Adventure is Out There
by MeanE
Summary: My dad always said that people were crazy, but I was crazier. Well, he's right. My crew of misfits and a crazy leader named Sara Ryder charging head first into a new galaxy and into new enemies. Let's just hope I don't die before the adventure begins.
1. Archon and the Poncho Alien

_Italics_ : Ryder's Thought bubble

His crystal blue eyes stared into mine, full of worry and love. His voice faded and my vision darkened. Leader, Pathfinder, Ryder, Alec, father, daddy was gone. Water trickled down my cheeks and I woke up.

My cabin was empty and my terminal flashed with the signs of new emails. I deftly brushed away the tears that seemed to always come. Looking in the mirror I sighed. _Good morning bed head._ A jacket was put on over a shirt and I lightly brushed at the tattoo I got with my brother back on Earth. I bitterly chuckled as my first thought was him being in a coma, lying on a bed motionless. _I'll make Heleus better. For you little bro._ The scar lacing from one side of my cheek across my nose and to the other cheek caught my eye and I winced. A reminder of that day. Of dad.

I walked out of the room and into the dim hallway outside, small lights on either side of the pathway. A content smile put on my face to ensure no one decided to question me now. _Being a leader is difficult. Making sure everyone stands beside you is even harder. A quote from Dad._ I climbed up the ladder and into the cock pit. Walking past Kallo and Suvi who were hard at work maintaining the _Tempest's_ stability and direction. My footsteps tapped on the platform overlooking the rest of the galaxy. I stopped at the end and put in our co-ordinates.

Onaon, a galaxy I had yet to explore thoroughly. Now with authorization and a title it was available to me. Available to exploration and possible colonization. Excitement was an understatement in my case as I practically shook from enthusiasm at what was to come with this system. A planet that had a working vault completely sold me, and forced me, to come to this place. _Dad would applaud me for being so enthusiastic to go into danger._

I felt my self lean backwards as the ship activated its mass effect core, stars becoming streaks of light around us. I stood there, drinking in the sight, but was quickly interrupted by Kallo's alarmed voice.

"We are on a collision course with unknown objects!", he shouted tapping frantically at his panel.

"Make corrections!", I ordered looking over at him, "SAM? You on this problem?"

"Collision is imminent", SAM said, voice uncomfortably indifferent.

"Then stop! Now SAM!"

Inertia pulled us all forward as the _Tempest_ halted suddenly in its tracks. I looked up and saw an entire fleet of kett ships. Each shifting their attention, and their guns, towards us. My eyes and probably everyone else's eyes became as big as sauce plates.

"Crap," I whispered.

"Kett ships. A dozen? No, more," came Suvi's voice from beside me.

"They've got us pinned against the scourge," said Kallo, voice still panicked.

"They are scanning us, Pathfinder," informed SAM.

"Then scan back!", I yelled, slightly panicked. _They can't have us. I won't let them have us._

The pounding of the ground team's feet went unnoticed as all the lights turned a blaring red and our systems were shut down. We were vulnerable and face to face with the entire kett fleet. I grit my teeth and my brows furrowed in frustration. _Crap, crap, crap, crap._

An image flashed in front of me. A picture of a kett, different from the others. It didn't have bone shielding its chin and instead a set of horns created a halo behind its head, but it still had the huge pale eyes and gray skin like the other monsters we've met. It opened its mouth and began to speak.

"Where is the one that activated the Remnant?", It questioned, voice echoing within the now silent room.

"Name's Ryder. Pathfinder from the Initiative," I quickly added on, "and aspiring space pirate."

"You will come with me."

"We've lost navigation!", shouted Suvi with Kallo following her up, "We are being steered into the ship!"

My eyes narrowed. _Can't take a joke huh?_ I leaned forward, "What the hell do you want?"

"I won't explain what you won't understand."

"Ryder," SAM's voice echoed within my skull, "I have almost regained control of the _Tempest_. I need a few more seconds."

"Try me. I actually know quite a bit, so why don't we compare notes? Space pirate to tyrant?", I said sarcasm dripping off every word I spoke.

"Enough", it boomed, "Your defiance is naïve and reckless-"

"-Hey! I'm not that naïve-"

"-This day marks the beginning of your greatness", the kett's image dissipated and the lights returned to their blue hue. I scoffed, "I was always great." Liam stifled a laugh at that.

I returned to the task at hand, "SAM? Next thought?"

"I have plotted a potential course through the scourge."

"Let's do this," I smiled madly.

The kett ship disappeared and was replaced by a cloud of rust and gray as we journeyed into the scourge. I cackled as we went through it. _More like a coaster back on Earth than anything, so much fun_. I heard an alarm of warning coming from Suvi's console.

"Suvi, Report."

"Enemy destroyed. Damage to aft sensors."

"Scourge, right?"

"Yes."

 _Isn't this getting exciting._ The sounds blurred together as the scourge's exit became clear, largening every second that went by. Then there was no scourge and we were free from the spidery red prison.

"Yes!", Kallo celebrated, a bright smile on his face at our success.

Drack wearily laughed, "Nice work, kid."

"I agree, but who the hell was that guy?", I said looking around at everyone.

"Ryder!", Gil interrupted, "We've got trouble down here. We need to find a port now!"

I sighed, deflating a bit, "Wonderful. Suvi, any ideas as to where we are?"

Suvi tapped on her console, eyes darting back and forth as she examined all the data she was receiving, "Sensors are damages, but I think we are at the vault's co-ordinates."

"That's the best thing I've heard all day. Gil, give it what you can. We're settling down."

The _Tempest_ glided towards the gray and red planet, smoothly descending despite its injuries. I tapped my fingers impatiently on the panel in front of me, the adrenaline rush from earlier still affecting me. Suvi's accented voice interrupted my taps, "We are being contacted."

I looked out the window and spotted a few shuttles, less bulky and a brighter color compared to the kett vessels. "They don't seem to be kett, but that doesn't matter when we need to land. Open a comm."

"Tove Jagalesh dove!", It commanded through the comms.

I frowned. _Am I an alien magnate or what? As if one race of aliens trying to kill us wasn't enough, let's add another!_ I shook my head in an effort to clear my thoughts.

Taking a deep breath in I began another first contact. "We come from another galaxy. Our intentions are peaceful," _so long as one of your bullets doesn't enter my head._

"Paav, nele set do", came a female voice.

"They sent us a Nav point."

"Set us down then."

Three of the cruisers escorted us down and past the dark clouds of their world. A bright patch of green, blue, and white appeared through the window that seemed so similar to Earth it hurt. I slowly backed away from my console, turning towards my ground team. "We need access into that vault."

"Please," Vetra said, arms crossed at her torso, "You're not really going down there on your own."

"Sure, I can," I responded smirking, "I mean you guys will save me when worse comes to worse…Right?"

Vetra looked at me unconvinced.

I sighed, rolling my eyes, "It's my job as Pathfinder to make first contact and give a good impression of the citizens on the Nexus and otherwise. Bringing a team of trained and capable aliens, some with supernatural abilities, with me spells trouble. I'm doing it on my own."

"Have fun. The most important thing ever," Liam added on, "No pressure."

"Well, if my 'knights in shining armor' can't save me when things get ugly, if I get eaten alive-even if it's hilarious-please, destroy the vids," I saluted with a grin and jogged down through the _Tempest_ and out the exit.

* * *

I raised my hands in the air, palms away from the people and towards me, in an act of a peaceful surrender. Several soldiers jogged up to me, all in a sea green uniform and the barrels of their guns pointed at me. They had a structure similar to that of the Quarians, their legs bent the same way, but heavier built. Females had narrower shoulders and were generally more feminine looking with a smaller frame and height, while the males had larger shoulders, a smaller waist, and a general bigness about them. A male walked forward and spoke to me in its foreign tongue, then began scanning me.

"Need me to take my shoes off?", I asked feigning innocence.

The led me forward towards a crowd of people in more casual clothing at the edge of the bridge once the scan was complete. A female came forward, allowing me to further study them. This particular one had a sort of marking on her head, maybe a signal of status. She, and the people around her, had large black eyes and blue irises with a cat like pupil in the middle. Her coloring was a combination of a light blue face, but a dark blue skin on the back of her head. The others came in an array of colors like green, blue, purple, and tan. They have three toes and three fingers. The females have rounder features and bigger lips while the males were more angular with thinner lips.

The woman in front of me spoke up, interrupting my examination, "I'm Paraan Shie, governor of Aya. We are the Angara."

I visibly relaxed when she used the same language a me, a language barrier never helped diplomats. "I'm the Pathfinder with the Initiative-"

"Yes," she interrupted, "You crossed dark space. I've heard of your journey."

I was confused for a moment then remembered the rebellion on the Nexus and the people being thrown off board. They had first contact with the Angara, but not on this planet. A purple skinned angaran man strode out from beside her wearing a light blue…Poncho.

"Jaal, I have this in hand," she stated a bit irritated.

He held up his hand, silencing her. "Evfra saw the ship come in and sent me to find out what's going on," Jaal responded now staring at me. He walked down the steps seemingly radiating superiority and confidence. Given that he could talk so plainly with a governor my assumption should be correct.

"She's a human from another galaxy," continued Shie, ignoring his order. "A Pathfinder."

Once at the bottom, I discovered he was a good five inches above me. Pride kicked in as I was forced to look up to him rather than straight at him. I crossed my arms trying not to show my indignation at the situation as he was a few inches away from my face.

"Aya is hidden, protected. What do you want?", he asked without reservation. _He cares enough about his people to go within stabbing distance of an alien._

I gathered my thoughts, "We didn't know what we'd find her honestly. But, we are open to sharing what we know if you are."

His eyes roamed my face, looking for deceit, "Honesty? Honesty would be a good start."

Jaal moved away from me and I relaxed watching his retreating form. "I'll tell Evfra. He'll be waiting for you in his office at Resistance headquarters. I'll meet you there."

Once he finally left Shie spoke up again, "I'll accompany you through our city. Your crew will stay on your ship. Follow me."

I walked up the steps and to her side. Then we went forward as if on a stroll with aliens looking at me like I was terrifying or incredible. My boots thudded on the tiled ground while her feet where silent. The waterfalls roared around us with the crowds' voices and the flora was bright, but unfamiliar. _Did they just ask to put me in a cage and have me be "examined" by their scientists?_ I shivered at the thought of me banging on the bars of a cage shrieking like a wild monkey.

"The kett must have hit your people hard for this kind of… Negativity towards aliens," I commented.

"You are also a new being that we know nothing about." _Fair point._

"I don't want," _or need,_ "trouble."

"Then keep moving," she responded hostility dripping off her words.

I awkwardly rubbed at my tattoo as we continued on our trip. The silence was tense and only SAM broke it by coming into my thoughts again. "None of the local flora register."

"No duh," I murmured.

"What?", questioned my companion.

"Oh," _busted_ , "Your… city is beautiful."

 _Nice save._ "Thank you. You're the first outsider to ever see it."

Another silence crept in. _Come on Sara, think!_

"What if Evfra doesn't like me?"

"He won't", _Bummer,_ "but you need to earn his trust."

"He's responsible for everyone's safety. I know how that feels."

"You're a leader."

"Trying to be."

We walked up some steps to a giant white door with plants on each side of it. Shie stopped and faced me, "This is the Resistance headquarters. Evfra is waiting inside."

I nodded my "thank you" and she returned it. I walked inside the white room, to see my favorite, and only, poncho wearing alien talking to a younger angara.

"…don't get kicked out Moraan, not because of them."

"But you're telling me to be weak!"

"No, I'm telling you to be strong through you're cunning and heart. Okay?"

I stood there waiting with crossed arms and my leg bent into a more comfortable position. The recruit began to walk away, but was quickly stopped by Jaal. _What now?_

"Hey…", he warned causing the recruit to look down at the weapon he carried, guilt written in his actions. He turned and set the rifle back in Jaal's hands.

"It really is the best one in the Resistance."

"I know."

Straightening up I walked forward towards Jaal. The recruit, Moraan, walked at me. We made sure not to touch each other and instead stared each other down with curiosity. Jaal seemed to notice this.

"Our experience with the kett make us naturally distrustful of aliens," he said, trying to explain everyone's reactions to me.

"I couldn't tell with the people talking about experiments, cages, and even more lovely messages," I said sarcastically. _Diplomat Ryder, condemning a new alien species without even properly knowing them. Possibility of getting shot: 99%._

He seemed confused for a moment then continued, "When the Archon-"

"-Archon? You mean that really weird kett who has superiority issues? Looks like the other kett, but has little horns that make a halo?"

He nodded, a bit annoyed at my interruption, and started over, "When the Archon came to Heleus, he demolished our sovereign state. Took what he wanted as if we were nothing," _Abhor seems too soft a word to describe what he feels,_ "Now the kett mercilessly abduct angara. Often we never see our people again." Jaal took a deep breath and regained his calmer composure, but I was still very unsettled by what he said.

"Come this way. Evfra is waiting," he said turning away.

"Wait," I said grabbing his shoulder, but quickly drawing my hand back as he glared down at me, "the kett kidnap you, steal your people?"

Jaal seemed to become resolute, "And the Resistance fights them every day with everything we can."

"How?"

He cut me off again by turning away, "You should save you questions for Evfra."

I sighed softly and we walked into a large room complete with huge screens that depicted images of Angara, the planet surface, and the Onaon system. Several angara tapped at consoles at the foot of the screens, others raced around the room carrying supplies and information. A lone angara stood by the window overlooking Aya's grand city. He wore an icy blue scarf and his arms were casually crossed.

"Evfra, this is one of the aliens from the Mill-key way. A Pathfinder," _Heh, that's cute. Mill-key Way. Wonder how he saws other words like milk shake or tequila._

"Pathfinder," Evfra turned to me. A scar went from the tip of his forehead done to the bottom of his chin, _Impressive_. "It's an aggressive move coming to Aya."

"It wasn't meant to be like that. My ship was in urgent need of repairs and we needed to land. To add on this ship needed to be operational in order for me to help my people on the Nexus. There are thousands of them and our food is beginning to dwindle. If I don't get them a home they will die from starvation or from each other."

"Of course. I feel for you and your people," _Then help us you stubborn-_ , "Pathfinder. Never mind how you even found us. Why are you here?"

"On a planet we call Eos," I began a bit irritated at telling this story again, "We discovered ancient technology and brought it back online."

 _Pause for dramatic effect,_ "It stabilized the planet's environment."

"Remnant. Resistance intelligences can support its claim."

My eye twitched at the use of the word "it". "If I'm correct there is a vault, an ancient technology, on Aya that is different and I need to look inside of it."

"You're right there is a vault," Evfra confirmed. "But it was shut years ago and the entrance hidden. We can't help you."

My jaw tightened. _Now what? Scour the planet until I find it? No, I wouldn't even be able to get out of the city, least of all the port because of Evfra stopping me._

"The Moshae could," Jaal interjected, "She's the most revered scientist and elder. She knows this vault."

"But now the kett have her and our rescue attempts failed. She's lost to us. And you," He ended coldly, glaring at Jaal.

"Is there a way I can do it without her?", I began grasping at straws, "I just need-"

"You have no idea what you're dealing with. The Angara learned years ago the perils of messing with vaults. So, did the kett for that matter. We're done here," Evfra concluded.

I felt myself deflate for a moment then the pressure of rising anger built in my chest. _He honestly thinks I'll stop there? This jerk knows nothing and cares about my people as much as he does the dirt on his boot!_ I bit my cheek as a string of curses and yells nearly fell out of my mouth.

"I feel…" Jaal began, drawing our attention to him, "Evfra, what this alien has to say is extraordinary. The Moshae would want us to be brave and not let this chance pass."

"Jaal you talk too much", Evfra sighed.

"Let me assess this alien," _Wait, what?_ "I'll be your eyes. I know you can spare me."

"Go if you want, but when she tries to kill you be prepared to strike first," _Great. A new team mate that would kill me if he wanted too._ Evfra turned and walked away from us.

"I'm Jaal Ama Darav. I'll be your envoy through Angara space."

I nodded my head, "Thank you for trusting me."

"I don't. But I can always kill you in your sleep."

"Nice to know you have a sense of humor. That'll get you places," I smirked, "Or killed. Depends on how good and annoying you are."

He smiled slightly and we continued our trek back to the _Tempest.  
_

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **Technically speaking this isn't my first fanfic, it's the first fanfic I've posted though. I've written over 10 and scrapped them and this is the only one I've stuck with. I'm happy for criticism and for spelling errors and the like. Don't know my schedule as of yet, but I'll post more chapters once I finish typing them.**

 **-MeanE**

 **PS I don't own anything besides my characters personality. Everything else (worlds, main plot line, characters, etc.) belong to the Mass Effect series and its creators.**


	2. The Tempest and Crew

_Italics:_ Ryder's thought process

After walking through Aya's docks and accepting to help two angarans with their problems, I finally arrived at Jaal's side. We stood there overlooking a vast jungle underneath the platform we both stood on. His blue poncho was waving in the wind, reminding me of a super hero. _Is he trying to look cool? Or is this just how my new team mate looks all the time?_

I finally got Jaal's attention, "Are you ready to board my poncho wearing alien friend?"

"Poncho?", He looked at me quizzically.

"The clothing you wear around your neck reminds me of a poncho. It's a cultural thing we had on Earth," I paused, "Earth is the planet I came from."

"I would like to learn more about this Er-th," Jaal said whilst pressing a code into the port's console. A bridge extended across the gap and met the platform on the other side that housed the _Tempest_. I giggled softly at his pronunciation of Earth and he ignored me, walking across the bridge.

"You ship is magnificent! I've never seen anything like it!", Jaal said staring at the _Tempest_ with awe that only children showed. I laughed a little at his expression, but clamped a hand over my mouth. He looked at me coldly, confused as to why I would laugh at him and hurt that I made fun of his emotions that showed so freely.

I quickly cleared my throat and rubbed at my neck, my face heating up in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me. It's just you seem child-like," he narrowed his eyes, "Not in that way! You're not immature, you're just so open with your emotions. It's refreshing in the world of cloak and dagger."

"Cloak and dagger?"

"It's an idiom."

"I-di-om?"

I held in a giggle. "Yes, you'll know all about it once on the _Tempest_ , but that's not even the best part," I winked at him and he looked confused again.

"How did you blink only with one eye?"

I groaned a little, "Ask more questions when we are on the ship and then we can exchange information. Anyways, I'll escort you around and introduce you to the crew." He nodded and we trekked up into the _Tempest's_ hull.

* * *

The _Nomad_ stood in the middle of the room being illuminated by florescent lights. Vetra's room seemed locked and no one was in sight. That is until Liam walked by and smiled at me, "Hey, you weren't eaten!"

I rolled my eyes at him and felt the angara's eyes boring holes in my back, asking for an explanation. I slowly turned toward Jaal chuckling a bit nervously.

"I may have…ah… how should I say this…"

"'If I get eaten alive, even if it's hilarious, delete the vids'?", Liam offered, smirking at my conundrum.

"Did I say that? Really? I'm pretty sure I didn't."

"It's a direct quote. Everyone will say so as well."

I glared at him, "Not helping."

He chuckled, "I will say the truth and only the truth."

"That's a lie."

I heard Jaal clear his throat, "Jaal, Liam. Liam, Jaal. Make nice and I won't head butt you."

"Yes, Pathfinder Ryder, sir!", Saluted Liam mockingly.

I dragged Jaal away from him. _I hope they don't become best buddies. They would target me exclusively._

I pointed towards Vetra's room, "That's where our resident Turian resides, her names Vetra. One of our best shots and could probably make an Elcor cry."

He didn't say anything and I was a bit puzzled. _Jaal shouldn't know what an Elcor is. Why isn't he questioning me?_ I dispelled those thoughts and continued, storing them in my head for later inquiring.

We walked up the ramp leading into the hallway. "To the left is everyone's bunks. You'll be sleeping and keeping all your valuables here. Past that is the bathroom, I hope you know how that works. To the right is Lexi's med-bay. You'll go there once I'm done to get a checkup, make sure nothing's wrong right now. You will also go there after missions because the probability of you getting injured is incredibly high," I paused to take a breath, "At the end is my cabin. Don't go in unless I'm getting killed by an assassin. To the right is the kitchen. We take turns making dinner and cleaning dishes every day."

Jaal nodded his understanding and we went up a ladder to the next floor.

"In front of us is the cockpit. Suvi and Kallo stay there and pilot the ship. Connected to that is the airlock and Peebee's escape pod. I suggest not going in because she enjoys her privacy."

"She owns an escape pod?"

"More like she commandeers it. Anyways," We went towards the communications room. "To the left is Cora's den. She takes care of our plants and meditates in there. To the right is our tech room, it's empty so I suggest you can hole up in there. Up that ramp is our meeting and vid call area. Report up there in ten for a mission debrief with the rest of the team."

I went to leave him, but stopped remembering something. "If you have any thoughts, concerns, requests, or other jazzy stuff just talk or email me. There is also a terminal for everyone's use in the bunk room I showed you earlier you can start up conversations or ask for help that way as well."

I left him and walked to my cabin, rubbing at my neck and releasing a deep sigh. Once inside the isolated room I sat at my desk and stared at the console vacantly, thinking about what is to happen. My console pinged and I opened up an email from Jaal. _My goodness._ It was an entire list of what he brought aboard and the reasons as to why. I shook my head and chuckled. I sent back an email stating that I didn't need to know his whole inventory. I switched my attention to sending an email about our meeting in five minutes to everyone.

Once sent I walked back to the comm room and sat down on the bench waiting for my team to arrive. _Should have a competition for these things. Whoever comes here first gets to have a drink on me._

Cora came first and the rest of the team soon trickled in after her. Everyone taking a position at the table. Everyone except Jaal who decided to sit on the bench I was on. I stood up and took the head of the table between Cora and Liam.

Each person was talking rather loudly to their neighbor, so I slammed my fist on the table top. "Let's begin this debrief," I commanded, "We just had some first contact. Any thoughts?"

"We didn't get shot at on sight," stated Cora.

"But there was still some hostility. They pointed guns at Ryder," Liam spoke up, some people agreeing with him.

"I'm just saying as far as first contact goes, at least that went better than the last one."

Liam scoffed, "Only slightly."

"Yeah," Peebee interjected, "What happened? I wanted to look around!"

"And now we have another mouth to feed," Drack paused, "Whatever he eats."

That drew attention to Jaal who sat there quietly, seemingly glaring at us as we discussed.

"Do the translators work?", questioned Vetra innocently.

"They work," said Jaal voice low.

"Focus everyone. We have been improvising so far, but we still have some protocol to value."

"Don't think I got that hand book," Peebee said shaking her head.

I sighed irritably, "Also known as, don't go at each other's throats."

"Ryder," Cora said in a somewhat calm voice, "We followed our best lead here and now we don't even have that."

"I've got it covered, Cora. Our buddy Jaal here can help us access Aya's vault."

"How do we do that when we are moving away from the planet it's on?", questioned Vetra exasperatedly, looking over at me.

"We can't explore the planet without the Angara's approval and complete trust. Jaal can elaborate a bit better than me on this. Jaal?", I turned towards him. _Hopefully he doesn't mind being thrown under the bus._

Jaal locked eyes with me for a moment and moved toward the table we stood around. "One day about eighty years ago, the Archon and the kett arrived in Heleus and the horror began."

"They declared war?"

"No easy thing to define or fight."

"The kett kidnap Jaal's people," I elaborated, "The angara disappear without a trace. What if they were us? How would we react?"

"I'll fight kett all day long," stated Drack, "But that's no plan."

"I agree. We need to get into that vault Ryder," chimed Peebee, Cora agreeing with her.

"We have a plan and it is solid. Jaal?"

"The resistance is stretched thin. I was tasked with traveling to two of our worlds at our briefing this morning and you'll accompany me."

"Because…?"

"Because then Evfra will see you as trust worthy. You want that."

"Jaal has told me about these two worlds," I said pulling up projections of the planets, "Havarl and Voeld."

* * *

Once the meeting concluded I began to make my rounds starting with Lexi. No new info came from her other than how well Jaal is adjusting to his new life aboard the _Tempest_. _Albeit, surrounded by mostly crazy people._ Drack told me about some of his war stories, my favorite being how he took on the Blood Pack for some supplies for his granddaughter, Kesh. _Very gory and very funny, especially when more than one Pyro exploded when some shrapnel hit their gas tanks._ I quickly shook my head and continued to the room Jaal claimed, stopping by Liam and making a quick note of getting him some movies once we were on the Nexus. I opened the door and sauntered in, seeing Jaal working on his rifle.

"So… Jaal."

"So."

"Haven't had a chance to talk to you as of yet. You comfortable down here?"

"I took it."

"I offered it," I smirked.

He ignored me and continued, "It feels strange to stay with the others. They're- you're- Aliens."

"And you're alien to us. Now we are square."

Jaal's eyes looked at me, curious as to the phrase I used.

"Idiom. We just both have a commonality. Not so alien anymore."

"We can look at it as a place to start."

"Yup," I began rocking on my heels, hands behind my back.

"Perhaps then, if we are all aliens, it's about what kind of aliens we are."

"Yeah, the murdering kind and the not-so-murdering-but-still-killing-people kind. Either way, murdering aliens or otherwise, you had no idea about us, but you still signed up to help us."

"Perhaps it has nothing to do with you."

"Care to elaborate?"

"No," he ended bluntly. I glowered at him a little. _He's trying to make me leave. I won't give him that benefit though._

"How do you know Moshae Sjefa?"

"She's our greatest mind on the Remnant. I was her student."

"You studied Remnant as well?" _I'll have to let Peebee know._

"A little. I was terrible, so I quit," Jaal paused, pondering for a moment. "Or she threw me out. One of those. We're still very close."

"That's sweet. Well, not the getting kicked out, but you…ah, you know what I mean," I replied, stumbling over my words a little. A long pause followed and I rubbed my neck, eyes searching for a new topic.

"Is that you're rifle?"

"It is now. It's kett with my own modifications. I like to tinker- to get my hands on something and take it apart."

"That's great. Really useful and a nice trait in general. Just a single, tiny, itsy-bitsy request," I said fingers pinching together to illustrate my request, "Don't take my ship apart."

He laughed at that. A full, rich sound emanating from his mouth. "You're right. I signed up- volunteered- for this. It's exciting," He took a breath and the smile faded from his lips, his eyes seeming to examine me more thoroughly. "There's something about you, uneasy, raw, but somehow profound."

I was a bit taken aback from the compliment and stumbled for a moment. _Come on Sara! What is wrong with you today!_ "Thank you. It concerns me a bit at how see through you make me seem."

"You're welcome," he nodded his head, "Angara feel very deeply. We have more trouble hiding our emotions than showing them."

"That's funny. Everyone that I know has more trouble showing them. Hell! There's even a species that has to speak what emotion they feel because they can't show it!"

Jaal looked curious, but simply shook his head. "That's interesting, but I have some work to do," he replied gesturing to his currently disassembled weapon.

"Of course, but it was fun and nice talking to you. If you can I would like to see you work sometime. Looks interesting."

"No."

"Huh?"

"No."

I frowned, "You won't tell me why either will you."

Jaal remained silent and my frown deepened. His cleaning cloth scrubbing at a grease patch on the rifle butt. I sighed impatiently, "Fine! But I will be back. I promise you that." Jaal continued to scrub. I sighed and walked away.

Once the door closed, I went to my room and quickly sent an order to Kallo to go to Voeld. My eyes looked at the console. No emails. I sighed and threw off my clothes, replacing them with a tight tank top and some shorts. I collapsed on my bed and fell into a deep slumber.

* * *

I woke up to some loud yells outside the door. I groaned. _These walls are sound proof! How loud are they?_ I picked myself up and dragging my bare feet across the floor. My shuffle wasn't heard over the commotion emanating from the kitchen and no one saw me until I yawned loudly, rubbing my eyes.

"Kid, did you get attacked by a wild pyjak?", Drack asked. I walked to the giant pot on the stove and grabbed a bowl full of… whatever that light-orange colored soup was.

"Yes. It had a shotgun and I was lucky to make it out alive," I said sarcastically.

"It was that bad?", Liam said over a mouthful of the soup.

"No, not this time. Anyways, what is this new poison?", I changed topics.

"Drack surprise," They all chorused.

I smiled, "The surprise being indigestion?"

Drack chuckled, "No, that's what Jaal is going to get eating that 'Nutrient Paste'."

I looked over at Jaal. "It does not and it tastes exquisite," he said, voice a bit hurt.

Peebee took her spoon and dipped it into Jaal's paste. She stood up and walked over to me. I yawned, putting my food down for a moment, and closed my mouth around the spoon. Peebee slipped it out and quickly escaped from me, smiling childishly. Everyone stared at me, seeing my sleepy expression change to that of contemplation as I slowly ate the paste.

 _Nothing. This stuff tastes like nothing._

I held my throat and fell backwards onto the ground, convulsing on the floor. Everyone stood up from their chair and Peebee looked at me in horror as I gasped for air. I stopped moving and my hands fell limp around my throat, eyes staring at the ceiling and mouth open. I saw Jaal and Peebee enter my vision and quickly jumped up and grabbed them both. I began laughing at their shocked expression. Everyone else sighed in relief.

"It tasted like nothing, okay! Not poisonous. Er… Not poisonous unless you're Turian or Quarian."

Vetra rolled her eyes and I got up, picking my bowl off the counter and sat next to Jaal. I nudged his arm gently with my shoulder, "Sorry about that. I'll give you an official welcome once we have more drinks at hand." He grunted past a mouthful of his paste while Peebee instantly perked up.

"Ryder, when are we getting those drinks?", Peebee questioned curiously.

"I don't know. Maybe once we get back to the Nexus or when Aya's city is opened to us. Depends on which comes first."

Peebee pouted at that news and a few others deflated as well. I glanced around and sighed, "I'll try to get them sooner, but don't expect too much!" Each person seemed to gain spirit at that thought and the room erupted in chatter. I finished my soup quickly and went back to my room to rest some more.

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **Rolling out some new chapters very quickly. I hate being patient and having people wait, so I'm getting these out as quickly as possible with the highest quality I can make them. Thank you for the Review(s), favorites, follows, and just reading. It made me really happy to know you guys enjoy my story so far.**

 **-MeanE**

 **P.S. I still don't own this game or this game franchise**

 **P.P.S. Hehehe, Cora's Den, Chora's Den, ME1 anyone?**


	3. The Planet of Ice

_Voeld is cold. Very cold._ I shivered a little while Jaal strolled by me very casually. _Curse you and your adaptation abilities!_ "Why can't humans quickly adapt?", I grumbled, rubbing my hands together.

"Because you are squishy," came Jaal's quick reply.

"Squishiness doesn't relate to adaptability."

"In your case, it does."

"No it-!"

Peebee clamped her cold hand over my mouth, "Stop fighting like an old married couple. We have a ton of things to do because you're too nice Ryder!"

I frowned and her hand pulled away from my mouth. "I'm not that nice."

She rolled her eyes and pulled herself into the _Nomad_ after Jaal. I climbed into the driver's seat and closed the doors. _She thinks I'm nice? She'll regret saying that._ I smiled evilly and slammed my foot on the gas, launching us head first over a cliff edge, straight to the Nav point.

Peebee screamed as the _Nomad_ crashed onto the ground and sped forward. I laughed as adrenaline flooded my system. Jaal was… I don't know.

"Hey Jaal… uh Jaal? Jaal! You alive?", Peebee yelled over my laughing.

An odd gurgling sound followed and Jaal spoke, "What..? What did I miss?"

"You were sleeping?", She yelled and I laughed harder. Tears pricked at my eyes and my face began to cramp up.

The _Nomad_ skidded to a halt outside a small Angaran camp. I curled up into a ball as I laughed long and full, Peebee still yelling her shock while Jaal nodded sleepily. I took a deep breath and composed myself. I wiped away the stray tears and turned towards them, "Time to get out! We've found the cache."

Jaal stared at my face for a moment, looking at me curiously. "What? Something on my face?"

"It's red."

"Yeah."

"It was white."

I laughed a little, "Oh, you mean that you haven't seen a human blush?"

"Blush?"

"I'll tell you once we get the cache from the camp," He nodded and I opened the doors of the _Nomad_ and jumped out of the vehicle. None of the angara seemed to notice us yet, so I began to walk up to them. I waved my hand a little, but was pulled backwards. I fell into a firm and warm being, a three-fingered hand being placed over my mouth to muffle my words. We were behind a crate, being hidden from the angara. The hand moved and I swiveled around to see Jaal, staring at the people over the top of the crate, Peebee behind him with her pistol out.

"Those are Roekaar," Jaal whispered into my ear, breath tickling my ear. "They will kill you because of their hatred towards aliens."

I nodded, lifting myself out of his lap. Blushing slightly as I realized what occurred. I rolled to another crate and quickly coordinated our strike. Peebee would be to the left of the camp, closing their escape to the sides as the cliff on the other side prevented them from leaving. Jaal would be at the very front, killing off any foes with his sniper that I couldn't. I would remain in the back and lead a quick charge towards them. They would scatter and we would easily pick them off one by one.

I prepped my biotics, picking a sharp shooter as my prey. I smiled and charged. He fell backwards in surprised and I shot a round of shotgun shells into him. I heard a rifle crack and a person behind me fell down into the snow. I nodded to Jaal who was hidden behind a rock.

I warped away for a moment and charged at another, shotgun firing away and biotics pulsing around me. Peebee sent a swarm of techs at the enemy, the red cloud jumping from one prey to another. I launched a lance of purple energy at a prey dangerously close to Peebee, causing her to switch her attention and shoot at the enemy with her Sidewinder. She winked at me and I laughed swinging a Krogan Hammer into the head of another like a baseball bat.

The crowd of Roekaar was decimated and we each began to loot their bodies, looking for credits, supplies, armor, weapons, and the like. I picked up a pad and quickly read through it then set it back on the crates. _Akksul, huh? Have to question about that later._ I tagged the crates location and went back into the _Nomad._

"So, you give lap dances now Sarah? Is Pathfinder only your stripper name?", came Peebee's voice from the back.

I stiffened in my seat, hands clenching the wheel as my face burned. I shook my head and tapped in the next Nav point.

"No, I'm not."

Jaal cleared his throat, "Do you mind me asking wh-"

"-No, you wo-"

Peebee spoke up, covering my mouth with her hands. "It's basically a scantily clad woman waving her junk in your face and you put-"

I ripped her hands off my face, "Peebee! Shut up!"

"Junk?", asked Jaal yet again. _He's too curious for his own good._

"Her butt and breasts."

"Ah," He said in understanding, "But what does that have to do with Ryder?"

"Don-", I tried, but she stopped me again.

"Well she did sit on you-"

"Peebee!"

"-and waved her butt in your face."

There was a long pause.

"So, your insinuating that Ryder…"

"Yes."

"To me?"

"Yup!"

I sighed and switched gears as the _Nomad_ climbed up a hill of snow. "Peebee, is this revenge for trying to talk to you?"

She giggled and I sighed. We skidded to a stop in front of a city called Hjara. "Jaal," I said changing topics, "who should I go to?"

"That would be Skeot. He is the highest ranking officer in this city so all problems go to and from him."

"Thanks," I turned around in my seat, "Stock up on ammo. Helping people generally means shooting things. More specifically kett."

* * *

I fired a round from my shot gun into a kett, "I just had to jinx it! Watch we're going to be shooting at space pirates with robot parakeets next!"

"You're going to jinx it again, Ryder!", Peebee shouted sending a shockwave at a group of kett.

I held my hand at Jaal, "Don't question it Jaal!"

I threw a lance at an Anointed, taking out its shields. Jaal finished it off with a shot from his rifle. It's Plasma Cannon clattered to the floor and an Angaran escapee picked it up and began firing into the kett. Peebee pulled a kett past her and into the snow below. A fire and a red warning flashed in my head, shields down. I rolled into cover and waited for the shields to recover. The gunfire ceased and I emerged from cover.

Kett littered the ground, tainting the white snow with their green blood. The angara we saved gathered together next to a "heat lamp" and we walked to them.

"You must be Skeot's uncle. He sent me to you," I said nonchalantly. My finger rubbing at a blood stain on my armor.

"Yes, you're just in time. I would've given us another day, no thanks to Eranaas' jabs."

"If the kett can't handle being called mildly insulting things that's on them not me," interjected Eranaas. _Drack would like this spit fire._

"See what I mean? We owe you," He paused for a moment sorting through his thoughts, "The Resistance needs to be debriefed. We'll head back to base as soon as possible."

"What about the data drive? We have to deliver it to Buxil so she can start analysis", stated the Spit Fire.

"Interesting," _We all know what that means,_ "Seems we have to depend on our rescuer for more than a rescue. Can you deliver this drive to Techiix? If we work together not time will be wasted."

"Yeah, I suppose there's no point in saying 'No'. Where would we find Bux-ill?"

"In her workshop. I hope we meet again under better circumstances."

We nodded to each other and I began to walk back to the _Nomad_ , that is until something tapped at my shoulder. I turned around and saw the poncho wearing friend there.

"This is big," He began, eyes smiling, "Liberating key Resistance agents and recovering information stolen from the kett. You've put many doubts about you to rest, Ryder. Even Evfra must now be convinced of your intentions."

"That means nothing right now. I'm not going to leave a war zone because of convenience. If I help these people the trust between our people will grow immensely. Along with that liberating a key planet in this fight against the kett will strengthen your people and their cause," I looked down for a moment, "And I already promised to help a ton of people."

He chuckled softly at that, "I thought you might say something like that. We'll talk to Evfra when you're done with your tasks here.

* * *

I lied on the cold hard floor, feeling the element zero pulse on the floor beneath me. _Why did the Remnant make these vaults so difficult?_

"How many things was that?"

"Well," Peebee began, counting off the tasks on her fingers, "We stopped the poachers, activated the vault, resupplied two of the three medic caches, got the map from Eroesles ruins, and cleaned out a kett mine field that you somehow got us into. All that's left is getting into the kett base and taking their first contact info."

"Ugh… Let's get back to the task at hand then. Jaal, be a pal and help me up," I commanded holding up my hand for him to grab. He did as commanded, but pulled a little too hard. I was now in his arms. I pushed away and Peebee laughed from behind us.

"I'm sorry, I didn't expect you to be that light," He said, concerned.

"It's fine," I replied brushing dirt off my armor, "Let's push on. We have a base to invade and kett to kill."

I activated the gravity well and was lifted up. The lights flickering past me and my team mates. Once on solid ground I jogged out the door and into the warm _Nomad._ I began driving away when some gurgles came from the back seat. They continued for some time before Peebee finally spoke up, "Ryder, can you hit a ditch or make a sharp turn or something? Jaal's snoozing again."

"Just let him sleep," I sighed.

She stayed silent for a long time then finally spoke up, seemingly panting for air.

"Oh, Ryder, are you sure? Here? Now?"

"Huh?"

"But Jaal's right here," She said ignoring me. "What if he wakes u-", She began panting and moaning louder.

"Oh, screw it… I want you… let's do it…"

"All right, pull over. I'll give you two some privacy," Said Jaal finally.

"I knew you were faking!", shouted Peebee in victory.

"It seems I wasn't the only one," He ended and I began laughing.

"That was amazing. I love you two," I laughed, body shaking.

"Ryder, you're turning red again."

I kept on laughing and tried to stop, but failed. Somehow, I kept on driving without launching us off the cliff again. We finally stopped outside a cave entrance and I opened the _Nomad_ , finally taking a deep breath of the cold air. We each climbed out and into the dim cave.

A kett appeared within my eye sight and then it was gone with a rattle of my shot gun and the thrum of biotics. We continued into the rocky tunnel, heat lamps lighting our way with their orange glow. I found the medical cache and quickly filled it with the supplies, Jaal mumbling his respects to his fellow Angara.

We continue into a larger room filled with crates, rocks, and technologies that could provide for decent shielding against gun fire. A large wall on the opposite side was a bright orange and prevented us from going any further. Well, that and several kett.

They noticed when I shot at an Anointed's shields and I heard my own barrier go down. I dove behind a rock and took time to recover the lost shields. I poked my shotgun out and fired away. My shield recovered and I instantly shot myself into the fray, using my hammer to smash their skulls in. Jaal and Peebee offering support from a further distance. I slammed into the last kett, using my biotics to smash his head into the wall and into a pile of mush

A thought struck me. "Hey Jaal, why does this guy's head look like your nutrient paste?"

"That's disgusting Ryder!", Peebee gagged.

"What? No one in for some good old Soylent Green?"

"No! Just," She gagged again, "Make sure to wash your hands later."

I laughed and wiped the blood off on the corpse's clothes. Turning it's green clothing darker. I switched my attention to the wall. "Buxil, I'm at the entrance to the base. Have you decrypted the code for these shields yet?"

Buxil's voice came rang in the comm, "Yes and not a moment too soon. Transferring it to you now. Stars be bright for you Pathfinder."

I began typing into the console. "Ironic how they originally thought the stars would turn black because of me. Quite the turn around," I mumbled.

The wall disappeared and I turned towards the entrance. "I'm here to pick up an order," I yelled into the hallway, "Two large pepperoni and a calzone. Name is 'Fuck you'."

I looked at my team mates with a crooked grin. Peebee laughed while Jaal sighed at my antics.

* * *

I furiously shot at the Prefect's shield generator. _Stupid thing won't DIE!_ I threw a lance at the generator.

"Hey! Do you mind letting me hit you again? I mean seriously! If you let your barriers down I'm sure we could become good friends", I yelled.

"Ryder, they don't obey anyone, but the Archon!", Jaal yelled from his side of the room.

"Look at that then!", I responded as the barrier disappeared. I launched myself at the kett and tackled it to the ground. We began to wrestle for superiority. For an advantage against the other.

"Ryder! What the hell!", Peebee yelled while shooting down another kett.

I ignored her and nailed the kett onto the ground. I brought my shotgun to its head and smiled, "Night-night ya piece of crap."

I pulled the trigger and ducked into cover as my team finished off the others. I popped out of cover when Jaal announced the clear, running and jumping into the building on the far side of the base. I pressed a code into the console for the kett elevator and me and my team where sent downwards.

"What the hell was that Ryder?", Peebee questioned, hands on her hips.

I stared at her for a moment, "Practicing my hand-to-hand combat." The elevator doors opened and I walked to the console, tapping in the code, and bringing down the barrier around the base.

"That wasn't hand-to-hand combat, Ryder", Jaal responded.

"Fine, fine. It was hand-to-gun combat."

"That's not what I meant."

"Doesn't matter," I said, brushing the conversation aside. "The jobs done and now we can go to Buxil."

We went back outside into the biting cold. Buxil and an angaran shuttle were stationed at the platform edge, Buxil distracted by the information coming from her… glowing orb… thingy-ma-jiggy. She noticed our approach and looked up, smiling.

"We tried to take down this place for months and you made it look so easy," She stressed, "Destroying their command structure and systems leave the rest of the kett vulnerable. Remember Ja Niihk? The shield around it has come down."

"That's great! Another place to conquer! Just have to jot it down on my 'Kett sights to eliminate list'!", I exclaimed sarcastically, the constant running back and forth beginning to bother me.

Buxil didn't seem to notice and continued in a happy tone, "It's a perfect opportunity for a final push while they deal with the chaos."

"I need to resupply first."

"Resupplying? I suppose that would be wise. We can take my shuttle. Let's go."

My team and I climbed into the shuttle, squished next to each other in the slightly uncomfortable seats. "SAM?", I called out, "Can you get the _Nomad_ dropped off at Techiix for us?"

"Yes Pathfinder."

"Thank you."

I stayed silent for a moment, letting the warm air seep into my skin. I finally turned to my team mates. "Hey Peebee, you comfortable over there?", I called over to Peebee, Jaal looking a bit uncomfortable at my proximity to him.

"It's a bit cramped here because of how huge Jaal's thighs are… but I suppose that's better for you. I won't complain."

"Peebee!"

"What?", she called back innocently.

"You know what I'm talking about!"

"I'm not sure what you mean Sarah," Peebee gasped. I rolled my eyes and felt Jaal shift a little besides me. The small compartment falling into silence.

"Do you guys want to jump out the shuttle?"

"No," They said in unison.

"But why?"

"I'm not crazy."

"I'm not a fool."

"How would I get you guys to do it?"

"You won't."

I pouted for a moment. Looking out the window. _We are nearly at Techiix, only a minute or two left._ I smiled.

"If I jump out the shuttle, would you?", I asked again, getting out of my seat and towards the door leading to the outside world.

"No, Ryder."

I slammed my fist against the lock and the pod opened. "That's too bad. This is going to be fun."

"Ryder!", Jaal shouted. They stared at me in shock as I fell backwards to the white world. I felt the cold air ripping into my skin, my barrier keeping the cold air from actually damaging me. I shifted in the air, facing my body towards the ground that was quickly coming towards me. Ten feet away from the ground I used my biotics to slow my descent. I righted myself and stepped onto the snow. I walked to the entrance of Techiix only to be greeted by Peebee smacking the back of my head. I laughed and Jaal shook his head, chuckling at us.

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **Next chapter up. I'm on a roll! Cookies for whoever finds the refrences I hid in there and a thank you to gofer and Jayfeattheris Awesome (You're just trying to make sure I spell them wrong aren't you?) for the comments. It makes me smile when I see the support.**

 **-MeanE**

 **P.S. Still don't own any of this master piece of a game or its predecessors. (unfortunately)**


	4. Ice Cities and Murderous AIs

_Italics:_ Ryders wonderful thoughts.

The ice city was filled with kett and ice. The hand-to-hand combat from earlier didn't suffice like it had earlier so I had to shoot and throw biotics at the kett my team didn't finish off. I slammed my fist into the ground, throwing kett in every direction.

"What happened to tackling down the kett?", Peebee asked over comm.

"Plans change and these kett won't die if a chunk of meat smashes into their bones."

"Really?

"Yes really!", I yelled shooting down an Anointed and ducking into cover. I quickly took it down with a lance and charged at the last one. Once on the ground I swung my Krogan Hammer down on its head. The sound of its crushing bones penetrating the silence.

"Clear! Let's continue down this," I waved my hand at the steel door way, "not-so-ominous city."

We entered into a smaller hallway with some explosives and advanced mining gear on the wall. _That's pretty heavy equipment. Just what are the kett trying to get to?_ We rounded a corner and quickly disposed of four more kett grunts. I quickly examined the room and saw metal peeking through the ice, the heat lamps making it sparkle.

"Look at that," Peebee exclaimed in awe, "I've never seen anything like this before."

"SAM, can you tell me how long it has been like this?"

"Angaran researchers hypothesize over 500 years as a result of the scourge event."

"I'd believe it," added Peebee.

We continued down another hall and into a spacious room, only three kett inhabiting it at the moment. I held out my hand, halting my team. I readied my biotics and charged into one. It fell into the ground and I jumped high into the air only to slam my fist down. The ground shook when I connected with the cold steel floor. I quickly shot down those who didn't fall, not noticing my downed shields until I felt something clamp tightly onto my right arm.

Shock consumed me, but my exterior held no emotion as I stared at the Wraith. I switched the hand I held my shot gun in and quickly shot the creature in its soft belly. It fell limp, but its teeth were still embedded in my soft flesh. _Too close to bone, too much teeth, so much pain._

"Care to help me?", I asked, voice unnerving me with how nonchalant it seemed while I was screamed inside. _Fuck that hurts.._

Peebee tentatively went up to me, Jaal by her side, and together they pried the creature off my arm. I grunted slightly as its teeth left my body. I rotated my hand and flexed my fingers, holding in the hisses of pain at each move. _Time to see how good my left hand is._ My shot gun remained at my left side while my right arm hung limply next to me. I signaled for my team to continue, ignoring their worried glances.

We journeyed into a room that was split by a pillar of ice. An amber cage was against the wall with an angara inside. I saw the several kett guarding it and sighed. _This is going to be a tad bit difficult._

"There are kidnapped angara here," Peebee whispered into the comm, calling Jaal's attention to the prisons.

"We must free them! They could help us," Jaal responded with vigor in his voice. _Such devotion for his people. It's admirable._

I motioned for Peebee to lead the assault while Jaal stayed in the back, hidden behind a boulder of ice. Peebee shot down a kett before four others noticed. I took down one with my shot gun, feeling pain lace down my arm when the gun kicked back into my left shoulder. _Screw left handed. I'm better with my right and pain is not gonna stop me!_ I threw a bolt of energy at another and Jaal took down the last two with the crack of his rifle. I growled as pain ripped through my arm again.

I climbed down from the ledge Jaal and I were perched up on. I felt my center of gravity move as I slipped on the ice, but was caught by Jaal who grabbed the bad arm. I hissed a little and he pulled his hand away, stunned at my reaction. _Why is he so stunned? Did I get blood on his poncho?_

I walked over to the consoles that connected to the cages and quickly disabled the orange barriers. The angara were free and we had no more kett to worry about at the moment. "That's all the kett," one of the captives piped up, sounding like he was close to tears. "And we… are really free."

"You're going to be fine, right?", I questioned, voice strained slightly from the pain.

"Yes. I-I don't know how to thank you. I can tell you what I know about this place if that would help."

"It would. Anything you can," I smiled, but it probably turned into a grimace at the end.

"Th-the kett are trying to get into a room behind that wall," he pointed, "Some time ago, they detected something and focused their attention on getting to it."

"Well," Peebee interjected, "That'll be easy to get to."

He continued, "The kett made us carry explosives here. They were preparing to blast through. You could do the same. Is there anything else? I ache to see the sky again."

"No, leave this place now and report to the Resistance. I don't want any of you hurt when I get inside."

"I hope you find what you're looking for. Be careful."

"When am I not?", I questioned with a small smile. I heard Jaal cough behind me and I sent a glare towards him, "Don't answer that."

The man left us to our own devices, walking in the opposite direction of us. I looked at the archway filled with ice and three kett bombs leaning against it.

"Pathfinder, I detect a strong, unidentified signature emanating from behind that wall."

"Should be enough explosive power. Let's light 'em up," I commanded. We got a safe distance away and I set off the bombs. The barrier of ice crumbled down and created a new pathway.

"No one got crushed by ice?", I asked.

"Yes, and look! We're in!", exclaimed Peebee, her excitement radiating off of her in powerful waves.

We entered into the monstrous room, the walls made of, you guessed it, ice. In the center was a machine with a round glowing light at the top. Semi-circles were lined up and down the room with wiring running beneath the ice.

"It's beautiful, but why would the kett want a nice view?", I questioned, eyebrow cocked.

"Greetings," an angaran voice echoed through the room, "How can I assist?"

"A machine. What are you exactly?" _I'm betting on AI._

"An interface for the power grid of this city. I have been operational since this city was encased in ice."

SAM interjected, "She is lying. This is an AI and her origin appears to be angaran." _I was right._

I leaned on my hip, right hand hanging loosely at my side, and eyebrows furrowed, "Angara are advanced, but even an AI like you shocked Jaal."

"Our oral history doesn't describe one," came Jaal's voice from my side, only confirming my claim.

"This is amazing news! Go get the commander!", came at angaran voice from behind us. _I told them to leave. Do they listen? Of course not!_

I snapped my head towards him. "I told you to leave. If you get hurt-if you die-I will not save you," I stated coldly. My attention returned to the AI, "Why lie?"

"As you can see I am currently vulnerable." _Vulnerable my ass._

"What happened?"

"The kett aliens talked as though I was evil and disgusting. They planned to take my knowledge and then kill me. I fought them off, but my energy stores are now drained. I am near death." _AI don't die, sweetie._

"Another lie. She is tied to a deep power grid."

"I beg you! Have pity on me. Do not take me from here, I would rather die. I am tired. I am done." _Pity? What's that?_

The angaran fool walked towards her, "That's insane. You're an extraordinary find-a key to our past!"

"Am I?", her voice became more sinister, "You are not the ones who designed me. I do not trust you anymore than those kett aliens or these other aliens. I would rather die."

"Ryder," interrupted SAM, "She has blocked my attempts to scan her."

"Great," I puffed, "I'm open for options. Any thoughts?"

"Thoughts?", the angara quickly went to the device and began to examine it. _Yep, he's dead._ "I'm taking her out of here. That's what-"

He was cut off as electricity surged through him. Jaal bent towards him, eyes grim.

"No! I am tired! I will not go! I am afraid-so afraid… and angry!", The AI screeched.

I raised my gun, not noticing the blood dripping out of my armor and onto the ice. The angaran gargled, "Help me… please… I have a family…"

"A life for a life. Is mine really more valuable than his?"

"You're too valuable," I responded lowering my gun as the angara fell, dead. "You honestly didn't have to do that."

"With my fate now in your hands consider it… a warning."

I laughed, "A warning? Really? I could kill you right here and you would do nothing. You will do nothing, but help the angara. If not I will force you. Have fun. SAM, make arrangements for a pickup with the Resistance. Time for us to build a base."

I made to walk away, but a hand gripping my uninjured arm halted me. I turned and saw Jaal looking at me, eyes firm. I looked down and saw a puddle of red, my blood, pooling at our feet. "You're going to the _Tempest,_ " He commanded.

"No, I'm going to set up a new colony and then go to the _Tempest._ "

He thought for a moment, "No, you're not. We are going now."

I yanked my arm from his grip, "Nope. Base first, _Tempest_ later."

He sighed. "We will set up the base," I smiled in victory, "But Peebee will be driving while I take care of your injuries."

I thought for a moment then pouted, "Fine."

He smiled and helped me out of the caves.

* * *

Once inside the heated _Nomad_ , I took off the armor covering my arm. Jaal and I were in the back and I was uncomfortably squished because of his hugeness. _Peebee was right. His thighs are HUGE!_ I rolled up the sleeves when all the armor was removed. Several deep gashes, at least ten, were on either side of my arm. The pale skin was stained red and pink with the blood, trails of crimson circling down towards my hand.

Jaal gently took my arm, turning it this way and that. His index finger pressed on the area around the wound and I hissed. He opened a pocket on his poncho and took out some weird purple bottle and white cloths. He wiped away the blood then opened the odd purple bottle. He poured some of the contents onto the wound and I yelped in pain.

"Holy hell!", I yelled, small tears at the corner of my eyes.

Jaal removed his glove and I got a decent look at his always covered hands. They were a purple like the rest of his body, his palm closer to white than the top of his hand. All of the fingers, from his ring finger on, were connected to each other while his index and thumb were left free. His hand smoothed the burning substance onto my skin and into the wound. Once Jaal was satisfied with that he wound the cloth around my wound. My vision gained a dark and hazy edge.

I rolled down my sleeve once we were finished, ignoring the pieces of armor next to me. I smiled a thank you to Jaal, but I probably didn't smile at all because of the pain and fading vision. The _Nomad_ stopped in the destination we planned to put the base. I climbed out and stumbled over to the location that would start a new thriving colony. I sent the all clear and a flare just as my vision faded to black and I fell to the snow. The cold biting into my skin, then warm arms wrapping around me. Carrying me.

The jostling feeling registered in my half-consciousness and I could hear a soft grumble of a heart against my ear. Voices entered my hearing and the up and down motion continued, my legs waving lazily in the air. _This person is really warm. Can I just stay like this forever?_ I snuggled closer towards the warmth only to have it taken away and my back meet a cold surface. I whimpered and felt my hand clutch around the warm person's clothing. _Come back, I miss your warmth._ I felt hands trying to pry my hand off, but I refused and only gripped onto the fabric with more strength. The fabric heaved up and then back down in a sigh. The warmth came closer and I smiled slightly. Then I rendered myself to complete darkness and unfeeling.

* * *

I opened my eyes to blinding light, pain laced through my brain and I ignored it. I sat up and rubbed at my eyes. I looked down at my right arm to see bandages, luckily not stained in blood yet. I turned myself and jumped down from the bed, bare feet hitting the cold ground. I walked out the door, first unsteady then getting my bearings. I walked towards the bay only for my uneven steps to be interrupted by a chuckle. "Heh, not even fifteen minutes after surgery and she's running around," Drack called down from the other side of the room, leaning on the railing.

"T'was only a flesh wound," I smiled. Then a hard hand smacked my head and I hissed in pain.

"Flesh wound my butt, Ryder! Three centimeters more and you'd be dead right now!", yelled Lexi from behind.

"Wouldn't be the first time."

Another smack.

"You need to rest," she said sternly.

"I need to check on my team and do my job."

Lexi sighed deeply, "Fine, but you need a full night's rest and another checkup before you go out on another mission."

I slumped slightly, "Yes mum."

* * *

Liam had asked for me to sign off on some of his research, which I ultimately did. But now I'm wondering if that was a good or bad choice. I looked up again at Liam who stood there in all of his shirtless glory.

"Liam, I signed it off." My cheeks reddened and I turned my head to the side, avoiding staring at his… chest. _Why are you blushing? Your brother has better abs than him!_ I turned my attention back to him, Jaal walked past me and behind the couch and table with Liam.

"That's great, Pathfinder," He smiled turning towards Jaal, "Jaal Ama Darav! We got our gear."

"Kosta, Ryder," He greeted nodding his head towards me. I rubbed at my neck as I noticed their shared shirtless-ness again.

"Is this show for my benefit? A get well present maybe? Because it's working," I asked trying to ease some awkwardness. _That's a lie. You're just flirting with Ja-_

"-Just convenience, swapping armor," Liam spoke. I frowned a little. Liam turned towards Jaal. "Ready to go?"

"Go."

"Right. The pattern on your pauldron?"

"Family honorifics."

"Can I wear the poncho?" _I want to wear it too!_

"It's a Rofjinn and no." _Boo!_

"Why? Is it religious?"

"Wait, what?", I tried interjecting.

"It's personal. You're not allowed." _We'll just have to steal it then._

"Because of status-or species?"

"Maybe it's both."

"Do all humans look alike?"

"Some of you sound alike." _This is starting to go south pretty quickly._

I held up my arms, calling for a pause causing pain race up my injured arm. I hurriedly put it back down with a wince. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I thought this was armor. Are you deliberately trying to offend Jaal?"

"Of course he is," stated Jaal rather bluntly.

"That's the point. Asking the stuff diplomats leave out. Amor for answers."

"My turn was earlier," Jaal interrupted, "Nexus info packets leave a lot out. I am sorry, was this not sanctioned?"

"You weaseling adhi," mumbled Liam.

"Never the less, Ryder." He left the room and I watched him leave through the door. Then I did a double take as I saw him walk towards his room. _He's naked?!_ I blushed furiously as I saw his butt then quickly turned back to Liam, mouth agape.

He laughed at my expression. "He was naked this whole time?", I asked. Liam only nodded. "Please tell me you know what you're doing. I don't want to get into trouble."

"Relax," He said and I simply looked at him like he was insane. Liam just laughed and continued, "Jaal won't complain to HR or whatever Tann thinks we report to. We were joking around and realized we didn't know how to insult each other or how not to."

He took a breath and elaborated further, "Some things are so ingrained they're invisible. We didn't know the warning signs so we got it over with. Now we won't do it accidently like when we are trying to negotiate an outpost. Enough of the people want to shoot us now."

I took a deep breath and nodded, "I know that much, but I don't need Jaal walking around the ship pantless when half of the crew has an attraction to males."

"Good point."

I rolled my eyes, "Of course it is! Next time think it through."

I made to leave, but slowly turned around. "Make sure to invite me next time. I'm not taking off my clothes, but I enjoyed the show."

"Your welcome to join especially with you and Jaal being together."

"What?"

"Nothing!"

"Peebee right?", I asked voice lowering dangerously.

"Who?"

 _That's all I need._

I stormed out of the room, face red in embarrassment and a bit of playful rage. I looked up and saw the asari on the second floor. "Peebee!", I yelled. She turned towards me and cursed, then she was gone through the hallway.

"Come back here Peebee! I only want to talk!", I said smiling in a creepier way. _Dad always said people were crazy, but I was crazier. Exhibit A._ I jumped onto the second balcony using my biotics and started running after her.

"Never seen her like that before," Vetra mumbled.

Cora chuckled nervously, "When I said to expect dragons I never meant this."

The doors opened and I saw Peebee escaping down the ladder. I threw a stasis, but missed and followed after her. My arm screamed in agony, but I ignored it. We circled into the bay again then up to the second floor. Peebee switched directions and went to the vid room. I skidded and ran up the ramp after her.

We circled around the table a few times, throwing a few biotics that were more for show and play than anything. I laughed when she tried to escape again only to be cut off by me.

"Ryder, you're crazy!"

"I know I am!"

Lexi appeared in the corner of my vision and I ignored her. _Wrong choice._ She trapped us both in stasis fields, ushering her goons to hold onto us. The stasis fields were gone and Peebee was being held in place by Drack while Jaal held me in place. _Thank goodness, he has clothes on._

Drack held Peebee's shoulder firmly, while Jaal seemed more careful of my fragile state and instead wrapped his arms around me in an awkward hug. Peebee snickered and I glared at her, a blush painting my face again.

"Now," Lexi began, "What in the Goddess' name are you two doing?"

"Playing tag."

"Escaping a crazy person."

"The truth," Lexi said sternly, glaring at both of us.

"Hey! That is the truth! Don't know about Ryder though," Peebee said staring at my warily.

"Getting a good jog in. It relieves stress."

"It's not the only thing that 'relieves' stress," Peebee interrupted.

"Peebee! That was an accident!"

"I don't know any more, you seem very comfortable there."

I turned cherry red at that. _She's right. He is really warm and cudd-No Sara! Snap out of it!_

"That's what this is about? You run around the whole ship because of Ryder's romantic relationship with Jaal?", Lexi asked. Peebee smiled in victory and my mouth opened in shock. Jaal was probably feeling the same way.

"What! How-No you-ugh…", came my response. I groaned in defeat, "You win this round Peebee."

Lexi nodded and the two men released us. I turned to face Jaal, but he escaped before I could say anything. I ran after him. The door to the bay nearly closed before I got to it, but I warped to the other side. I walked up to Jaal who began working on an inoperable device we kept in here.

"Jaal, I'm sorry you were pulled into that," I said scratching at the scar under my eye.

"It's… fine," He responded finally turning towards me. We stood together in silence for a moment.

"Tell me about yourself," I began.

"Why?"

"Why not? Unless… are you hiding your identity? Have you been an angara this whole time? I could've sworn you were a salarian!"

He didn't chuckle, but smiled a little. "No, but hiding something would make sense."

I sighed, "Fine let's take turns. I was born on Earth. Third planet of the Sol system in the Milky Way."

"That's interesting. Thank you."

A pause.

"Just tell me about your species then," I begged.

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything really. Like, how long did you have electromagnetic capabilities? How did they evolve?"

"No idea. Biology doesn't interest me, but I'm sure you could read about it."

"That's disappointing. No biology at all?"

"How do your eyeballs work?", He stated, tone flat.

"An internal lens focuses an image onto the retina where it becomes electrical impulses that are deciphered by the brain."

"You took my sarcasm as an invitation to show off. Pitiful," Jaal responded in disgust. _That hurt a little._

"I just really enjoyed learning about that," I spoke with sadness.

"Anyways," I said perking up, "Tell me all that you know about your people. Every detail."

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **If you haven't already noticed the last chapter's references were Soylent Green and Fallout 4 (The sarcastic choice for when you talk to the Courser). I'd like to thank Morbicity for reviewing, it was nice to know I wasn't rushing anything (although I did feel like I was). All favorites, follows, and people reading this just makes my day. If you haven't already noticed (and I don't remember telling you this) I have written up all the chapters up to the final mission. As of right now I have typed up to the 6th chapter and will continue publishing every other day until I get really busy.**

 **-MeanE**


	5. Archon Fangirls

I walked up to the conference room and called up Jaal, preparing for a long and frustrating talk with Evfra, the Resistance's leader.

"Interrogating me on my people wasn't enough?", Jaal joked as he strode up the ramp. I smiled and shook my head, "No, 'Take me to your leader' is the next step."

He chuckled and I tapped on the commander's channel, Evfra appearing across from me. Our moods instantly changed to something more professional, "Commander."

"Pathfinder," he replied, "Jaal's been keeping me updated on your 'adventures'. Your 'good deeds' on our behalf."

I clenched my fist a little at him trying to egg me on, "I meant them. Establishing trust is the base of unity and co-operation."

"You rescued Shavad gaan," Evfra continued, ignoring my words. "His loss would have been hard for the Resistance, but your true intentions are clear- to explore Aya's vault." _He can't get it through his thick head that I want a peace and perhaps a pact between our people._

"Jaal says you want to help find the Moshae. Why would I let you?"

"I want this to be the start of a strong relationship between us and our people."

"Keep your promises," _I have_ , "And little by little our bond might grow. We have managed to trace the Moshae to a special kett facility on Voeld."

"Special?"

"These facilities are protected by dynamic shield tech we haven't been able to crack. We're close, but its ability to adapt outstrips the speed of our current processors."

"Pathfinder," SAM echoed in my head, "Adding my processors to their program would no doubt make the difference."

I smiled a little, "I can help, which is a good thing because you need my help in this case."

"The angara don't need anything from you!", Evfra spat, "We take care of our own."

My smile widened, "With the processing power of my AI I can guarantee a shield breach."

He seemed to come to his senses, "An AI? Of course. That makes sense."

"He's physically connected to me, so where ever I go… he goes."

"It was risky to be honest about your AI-and honesty makes you different from the kett," He paused, finally bowing to my will, "You're welcome on the mission."

"Thank you"

"My team will meet you at our base on Voeld. They'll take you to the kett facility. Stay strong and clear. Goodbye," then Evfra's image vanished. Hope swelled in my chest and before logic could register I was hugging Jaal in pure joy.

"Yes! I'm one step closer!", I cheered gripping Jaal tightly. He in return coughed a little awkwardly while looking away and I let go, face burning.

"So, you've gained Evfra's trust. No easy feat."

"Yes, but at a cost."

"You mean the Roekaar. Don't take it personally, they hate all aliens."

I laughed a little, "Evfra insinuated that you had experience with them."

"I know their leader, Akksul," Jaal began, looking distant. "We studied together under the Moshae. But, unlike me, he was a good student. The best actually."

"Then his knowledge about the Remnant must be vast."

"Yes," Jaal sighed deeply, depressed. "It's a long story."

"Give me the summary then."

"Akksul was… captured by the kett. He spent a year in a forced labor camp before he managed to escape."

I nodded grimly, "That explains a lot."

"Yes. He… suffered greatly. When Akksul returned he no longer cared about the Remnant or anything except destroying the kett."

"Why not join the Resistance?"

"Akksul's not the type to follow orders... and I think he was bitter we weren't able to rescue him."

"And he formed the Roekaar."

"We didn't give them much thought originally, but since your people arrived his cause has grown."

"That means he won't listen to me being that I'm also classified as an alien."

Jaal nodded, "He'll make you want to kill him."

"Gotta try anyways."

He sighed in defeat, "If Heleus is to be your home I guess you'll have to deal with the Roekaar one way or another. There's a recluse on Havarl who escaped from the kett. Her name is Thaldyr. She might know how to contact him. I'll give you the Nav points.

* * *

The flight to the base was long and tense. Not even a bullet from Jaal's rifle could dent the thickness of the air. I shifted a little. Drack sat to my left while Jaal stoically stood at my right. I tried my best to end the awkwardness anyways.

"No one has seen the inside of one of these places and lived to tell the tale." _Great. Start off a conversation assuming everyone's going to die._

Jaal nodded, "Prisoners who go in are never seen again. They're 'the Disappeared'."

"Figures," interrupted Drack from beside me, "What about the slaves you freed?"

Commander Hekt answered that, "Sure, we've liberated kett working camps, but never these facilities. We lost too many fighters trying. The price was too high."

Owwin added his own thoughts, "I'd like to believe that the kett take important angara from here to their home cluster."

"What? As slaves?", Jaal seemed astonished.

"I guess…"

"Death is better."

"They are one in the same," I simply replied, meeting Jaal's eyes. "What you guys are going through is a nightmare, but being able to stop this is a hope you must keep."

"It's why we're excited to be part of this mission," finished Commander Hekt.

"We're here," called the pilot from the front of the shuttle, "And let's be quick, the storm is getting worse."

I stood up from my seat, "Once we are through you'll take point and we'll look for Moshae Sjefa. Top priority is your own safety. I don't need to drag a body bag to Evfra, okay?"

"But Pathfinder, no one joins the Resistance to stay safe," interrupted Skaelv who shared a look of understanding with Jaal.

I glared at her for a moment, "Tell me that when we get out of there alive."

We jumped out of the shuttle and into the snow, the pilot instructing us to radio in when it's safe. I walked around the outside barrier ignoring their idle chatter while I looked for the junction. A piece of tech was jutting out of the snow and I quickly tapped into it, "Run Angaran shield disable program," I commanded.

"Adding my Process Accelerator", SAM replied, "Stand by."

"Please don't embarrass me in front of my new friends," I mumbled.

"I have created a small hole in the shield."

True to his words, a small hole appeared and we ducked inside the barrier. I saw a slight distortion in a space and quickly shot down a wraith while Drack got the other one. The angara nodded, impressed with how we took care of them. I ignored it and climbed into a ventilation shaft.

"SAM, I want to know everything about this place once we're done here," I whispered. I shot down the grates and we pressed forward. We came to an opening into a large, two storied room with at least fifteen kett inside. Jaal held me back while the others dived into battle.

"What the hell are you doing?", I whispered, glaring at him.

"You are still injured," He responded with worry lacing his voice.

"Jaal, I'm a big girl. I'll be fine," He still looked worried, I sighed. "I'll try not to over use my powers or get into direct danger then."

He stared at me a while longer and I released another sigh changing my profile to infiltrator. "Give me a sniper rifle once you find one." He nodded and they all fought off the foes. I threw a few infernos and overcharged an enemy, but didn't help otherwise.

I climbed down from my perch to the floor. I turned and caught a rifle flying towards me. It was kett and very similar to Jaal's, but not as advanced or well modded. "Thanks", I said peering down the sights and adjusting my grip to something more comfortable. I pointed the barrel at the holograph of Archon and fired twice before reloading.

"If we were a surprise I doubt we'll be one anymore", I said putting my gun down.

"You have the best chance of finding Moshae Sjefa. We'll attack head on and provide a distraction", planned Hekt.

"Good plan."

Hekt shifted his weapon, "This is going to be fun." _You don't know fun until you punch down a kett commando._

"This is the main entrance. We'll go this way," Skaelv said.

"Kick in the front door", finished Hekt. He smirked at the glory of fighting.

"Stay in contact and good luck," We turned towards a ramp above the Commander and his team. I opened the door and we walked down a hallway.

"Pathfinder, it seems the program I used to breach the shield could overload it and destroy the facility. However, the pulse would be fatal to angaran physiology," SAM informed.

"That's our plan Z then. Won't need it or use it."

"Yeah, killing your allies is a lousy plan," Drack echoed.

* * *

A few kett bodies laid in the room we just cleared out. I walked to a console and tapped a key that caused the window in front of me to clear. Beyond the screen is what stunned us all.

A giant courtyard was stretched in front of us with a giant statue of the Archon in the center. A conveyor belt with pods attached circled around it and Destined were filed into blocks on either side of a group of four angara and an Ascendant.

"What? What is this?", came Jaal's unbelieving voice. The pods opened and the angara stepped forward towards the Ascendant, towards the Cardinal, when commanded. I was shocked and trying to reason with their behavior only to get my thoughts interrupted by a chorus of, "Chosen to be exalted" and the angara stepping into the pods.

"What...? Why aren't they resisting?", asked Jaal voice getting more urgent.

I took a calmer path trying to reason with both him and myself, "They're in some sort of trance. I doubt they'd go in willingly, Jaal." _But this is still some creepy cultist shut with the Archon fan club._

He steeled himself and turned away from the pods and towards me, our eyes connecting. His sky blues against my own ice blue eyes. "I know the Moshae. She's not down there, but maybe in one of those pods."

"That's as good an idea as any."

Owwin's voice filtered through our comms, "You wanted a distraction? We just set our plan on fire!"

A rumble rocked the building alerting everyone alive and sensible where the group of angara were. The Archon appeared behind the shock Cardinal, "Explain."

"We've been breached. I will defend the temp-"

"Wait," He raised his hand, "Is the Moshae among these?"

"No, it awaits final exaltation."

"Then proceed immediately and bring it to me", the Archon finished then disappeared. The cultist leader quickly walked away, its cloak swishing behind it.

"Final exaltation? What are they doing? We have to save all angara!"

"And we will to the best of our abilities."

"That's not part of the plan, Ryder," Drack growled.

"That's why I changed plans."

* * *

The rooms after that contained pods, but none of them held the Moshae so we continued past them all. I opened the door into another decontamination room. I noticed a few kett and an Ascendant, not in the same pink clothing as the Cardinal thank goodness, beyond the window.

"Get down!", I commanded, "SAM, can you quicken this process or something?"

"Working on it."

Two kett walked to their superior and gave him some… syringes? A pod lowered from the ceiling and the Ascendant rose to meet it in the middle, arms crossed over its chest. It opened to reveal an angaran that was the same purple as Jaal, but seemed younger and had less sharp features. The young man's arms rose to his confusion and he looked terrified for a second, then the needles were plunged into the flesh of his chest. Jaal pressed his hand to the window and looked… shocked, terrified, hopeless, and more as the fluid was injected into the person.

The angara screamed and grunted in pain as black lines began to appear on his skin, like a black spider web or cracks in a stone. His fingers moved and his bones cracked unnervingly. The angara shook viciously and then his skin turned an inky black. Finally, he fell to the floor and rose again as a kett. Once the door opened Jaal rushed in and I followed only to be greeted by a battle.

"No wait! Save the Angara!", yelled Jaal over the commotion. I fired twice at a Destined's head, killing it.

"I can't Jaal! He will kill us!", I yelled back.

"Don't think he's gonna to stop if we ask nicely," Drack commented.

I shot down a Chosen and Drack charged at another. "Those monsters!", Jaal yelled, rage over taking him. "Villains! Time to die!"

I saw him vanish and then appear behind the angaran turned kett, knife raised. The knife then went through the kett's back. I shot down the last kett who was trying to sneak up on Jaal then stood up from my position. "What the bloody hell?", I exclaimed as Jaal knelt next to his lost compatriot.

"One more reason to want to kill the kett", growled Drack.

I calmed down a bit and noticed Jaal. My face softened as his body shook and I knelt next to him. "Jaal," I said, putting my hand on his shoulder.

"They are us," he said feebly. His shoulders shook as tears left his eyes and his face contorted in sadness and agony. A sharp pain shot through me, not due to my injuries, but because of this man's sorrow. _I can only imagine what he's going through._ I put my arms around his neck and gave Jaal a hug. He turned so that we faced each other in a more comfortable position. We stayed like that for a moment with Jaal weeping into my shoulder and me gently rubbing circles into his back, whispering some comforting words into his ear canal. Drack spoke up, breaking the moment, "We don't have much time. Let's keep looking, this isn't the only room."

I nodded to Drack and he sprinted off. I gently pried Jaal off me and stared him in the eye. "They are us," he repeated with the same small and shaky voice.

"Yes, I know."

"How many have I killed, not knowing? Ryder, I did not know."

"I'm so sorry. Knowing this would shock anyone," I began to cry. The raw emotion he was showing being too much for me.

"You'll cry for a species you barely know?", questioned Jaal in a whisper.

"If I didn't who will?", I replied wiping at my eyes.

Jaal looked me in the eyes, his deep ocean blue eyes bearing into my icy blue ones. A stray tear caught my eye and I caught it with my thumb, cupping his cheek in my hand. He leaned against my palm, seeking comfort in what little warmth I gave compared to his hot cheek.

"Down here! Found here!", interrupted Drack over comm and I was snapped out of it. I drew my hand away from his and placed it in my lap, turning my head away from Jaal with a blush plastered on my cheeks. Jaal didn't turn away and instead took my face in both of his hands. He wiped away the tears that rebelled against my will.

"Thank you, Ryder," He said, gratefulness clear in his eyes. I smiled widely and we rose off the ground. Together, we went to Drack who yelled at us to hurry.

Emotions from earlier locked away in my mind, I got down to business. I sealed the door to the decontamination room and looked out the window to see our favorite cultist there with the Moshae floating down to meet it.

"SAM! I need in NOW!"

"Initiating decontamination bypass," came SAM's mechanical response.

Jaal walked past me and began yelling while hitting at the pane that separated us from the Moshae Sjefa. The door opened and we entered the room just as the Cardinal escaped with the Moshae in hand. I shot down the shields of a Destined and Jaal shot down a Chosen. Drack barreled into the unshielded chosen and I switched targets to another Destined that tried to sneak up on Jaal. I shot its head twice and effectively killed the beast. We ran past the fallen kett and into the elevator.

"SAM, any good news?"

"I was able to gain access to the facility plans at the last terminal. A best guess would be the shuttle launch area above."

I sighed and began to pace in the small area, putting a knuckle to my mouth. _Shuttle area means they are going to try to escape from us. That's not good. We have to stop them before that happens. Maybe kill the cultist in the process._ The elevator door opened and I launched a heated glare at the Cardinal who dropped the Moshae to the ground rather carelessly.

"There she is! I see her! They're getting ready to leave!", shouted Jaal from behind me and I quickly ran up to some cover.

"Not if I'm there to stop them!" I yelled, firing my rifle at the newly formed shield generator. I barrel rolled into some new cover as a Chosen tried to shoot me down.

"Jaal, Drack keep the goons off of me! I'll get this cultist bitch!"

The shield was gone and I shot an incinerate then an overload at her, an explosion engulfing her. I saw orange through the smoke and then she emerged with a new barrier around her. I rolled behind another crate and bumped into Drack who laughed at the thrill of the fight. An amber orb came towards us and we separated. The Cardinal went after me and I sprinted around the fighting group and dove into some more cover. She teleported to me, too close for comfort, then I saw her turn away from me and towards a person behind her. _Jaal!_

He stood there, stoic as always, and stabbed into her field generator. _That's not enough!_ She grabbed his head, held him in the air for a moment, and then threw him across the courtyard and at the stairs that the Moshae rested atop of. I screamed as he flew.

Then rage flared through me. A pure and crazy frenzy raced through my veins. _They honestly expect to get away with this? I am beyond pissed now. They dare cause one of my friends to cry! They dare steal the Moshae from her people! They dare to capture and transform a beautiful race into hideous monsters! Then this BITCH dares to hurt my friend some more?_ I switched my profile back to its normal vanguard and replaced the rifle in hand with my trusty M-27 Scimitar that I personally modded with my father. I yelled a barbaric battle cry and shot down her shield generator. Something in her demeanor changed and she tried fleeing from me. I smiled and charged at her with my biotics. She slammed into the ground and I filled my right fist with powerful biotic energy and punched her. There were screams. My screams of pain, of furry, of agony. Then her screams. There were screams trying to get me to stop and I only did when I felt myself being pulled off of the Cardinal who was now collapsed on the floor, writhing in her own pitiful self. I spat on her, blood mixed with the spit. I ignored the flaring pain in my arm and went to the steps next to Jaal's body.

I gently put my hand over his nose, feeling the intake of breath and the expelling of air. I sighed in relief and left him knowing only the Moshae or Lexi could help him. I walked up the rest of the steps and knelt next to the Moshae. "We are going to get you out of here, but Jaal needs help. Please," I begged her, my eyes full of worry.

She nodded slowly and I helped her to Jaal's fallen form. I wanted to cry as I saw his face screw into pain. Sjefa, _because Moshae is too much_ , took his hand and whispered something about bioelectric currents. Nothing seemed to happen until Jaal finally opened his eyes. This time I did cry a little as I dove to Jaal and hugged him tightly. He winced in pain and I instantly released with a sheepish look. Sjefa and Drack looked at each other and chuckled. It was a peaceful moment in the chaos, but it being a moment meant that it would end and that it did when the Cardinal arose.

"You will not take it. It is meant for the Archon himself," she said, her fist glowing threateningly. I felt my biotics tickle at my spine as the purple aura flared around me. Drack raised his shotgun at her and she instantly halted her attacking. I stood up from beside Jaal. I smiled wickedly.

"First things first," I punched her again, "Don't piss me off, especially by hurting my friends. Next, Sjefa has a name. Use it. And finally, Sjefa is coming with us."

Sjefa and Jaal were standing side-by-side supporting each other in their weakened state.

Sjefa spoke up, "I want to know why the Archon-"

"-Arrogant simpletons," interrupted the Cardinal, "This is a gift! Who are you to deny it?"

 _She's doing everything in her power to get herself killed._ "You have the Angara, a beautiful race of people, turned into you kett monstrosities that fight, kill, and capture their own people!", I roared angrily.

"These Chosen join with us to become great beyond your ability to understand. Like them, I was once wretched and the exalted DNA of our great Archon entwines within me. I stand on the shoulders of his greatness as they do. As one day, you will."

I walked up to her, coming nose-to-nose with the Cardinal. "Greatness isn't something that can be engineered. You're a clear example of that, pathetic."

SAM spoke up, "Pathfinder, I am tracking multiple in bound kett cruisers."

"You will all be exalted," spoke the Cardinal. I glared at her for a moment then head butt her. Drack laughed as the Archon's fangirl stumbled backwards.

"SAM, is there an off switch to this hell hole?"

"I have accessed the EM field and can override at your command."

Jaal and Sjefa limped to me. "We must get our people out first", He begged.

Drack piped up, "There's not enough time to open hundreds of pods, let alone help the Angara inside."

"Wait", interrupted the Archon's bitch, "Leave my sacred temple intact and I will open the pods of the chosen. Take them-just leave the holy place standing."

The Moshae stepped forward, "No. Even if I die here this place must be destroyed."

"We can come back to destroy it. Let's free those here now," reasoned Jaal.

"If your plan fails the kett will simply fill this place again."

"With respect, our compatriots are also here, our fighters, our scientists, our strength."

The seconds felt like years as I contemplated my choices. _Leaving the base, but rescuing the people won't alter the kett's strength. This would instead give the Resistance an advantage. Killing everything would do nothing other than please the Moshae. The kett have other exaltation bases. Losing one will not change anything._

"Release the Angara. Now!", I commanded.

The cardinal lifted up a pad, "Enact emergency shut down. Release all the chosen."

"Jaal, have the Resistance free as many as possible before the backup arrives."

"I will and thank you."

The Cardinal began backing away. "I thank you too. I see yo-", She was stopped by a single swing of my Krogan Hammer. Her skull splitting and her body flung down the stairs, landing in an awkward position at the bottom.

"Bitch," I scowled.

Sjefa spoke up, "She deserved much worse."

"We have the Moshae, heading to the roof for extraction," Jaal said speaking into the comm.

* * *

Once at the port a vicious wind slapped against my face. I kneeled behind cover as Sjefa created a golden barrier around us. I stared at it in wonder. _It's not the normal purple of biotics. Maybe her bioelectricity?_

I restrained from using my biotics and kept with my Shotgun and sniper rifle. I fired and saw the shield steadily moving forward. I went with the shield and ducked behind cover, shooting at an Ascendant. We were half way there when the barrier went down.

"Moshae!", shouted Jaal in worry.

"I'm okay!"

"Forward!", I commanded, "Let's go! No turning back now!" Another kett went down and we all stationed ourselves at a platform farthest away from the facility. Sjefa created another barrier as the kett assault came.

"Pathfinder, come in! You have the Moshae," Commander Hekt voiced over comm.

"Hekt, get our people out. As many as you can before reinforcements arrive," Jaal stressed, limping to my side.

"I will, but I think we should destroy this place while we're here."

I threw a lance of biotic energy at a grunt. "Shuttle you better land soon or its going to get ugly!", Drack shouted into his comm.

"Sorry, we can't land!"

"Pull up to the roof. We'll figure it out from there!", I responded.

A giant Fiend appeared and I heard Jaal cuss under his breath. I shot at it with my sniper. "Crap, crap, crap!", I yelled when I ran out of sniper rifle ammo, "Come on you guys!"

I switched to my shotgun. "I hear you Ryder! I'm on it!", Jaal yelled helping Sjefa limp away from the battle.

"What else do these kett transform?", questioned Drack over the gunfire.

"I don't know, but I sure as hell don't want to walk into that factory!"

The beast was on the steps and I fired round after round at it. Itching for close combat, but the constant reminder of it being able to eat me prevented that. Drack yelled a battle cry and charged. I shot at it again hearing and feeling my barrier fall as the great beastie died. I dove into cover and shot at the kett over the top of the crate.

"Pathfinder," came Hakt's voice again. _Finally!_

"We need to go! Now!"

"On our way. The storm's getting worse. We need to leave now!"

We ran towards the shuttle that pulled up. Drack and I defended while Jaal helped Sjefa into the transportation.

"Resistance squad come in!" A kett went down.

Owwin responded, "Here! We're making good time." _Is he their new spokesman?_

"Get your team out before kett arrive to your position!", I yelled over the rattle of my M-27.

"Don't worry. We got this."

I quickly sent up a biotic barrier that covered the entirety of the shuttle along with Drack and I. Drack jumped in the vehicle and I flared my biotics sending out a wave of energy that forced many kett off the roof and into the depths below. I turned and jumped into the shuttle. Arm burning in pain.

I looked around the small area and sat down next to Jaal who was seated across the Moshae. I rubbed away the perspiration on my face and looked down at my shaking hands. I clenched them and leaned back into the seat. My eyes drooped closed and my head leaned on a warm shoulder, probably Jaal's shoulder. A warmth leaned onto my head and I felt myself fall into the darkness of sleep.

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **Next chapter as promised. I'd like to thank Jayfeatthersis Awesome for her comment (Jaal as a cowboy would be amazing, I'll have to add that in sometime... and it's nice to know you didn't get confuddled/confused by my Crazy Ryder moment (and this Crazy Ryder moment as well.)) Anyways all the cookies and love to anyone who reads, favorites, follows, and reviews. I smile every time that I see another person that enjoys my story.  
**

 **-MeanE**

 **P.S. The fluff has begun.**


	6. She-Demons and the Snow

On the _Tempest_ once again, I changed into a more comfortable set of shorts and a T-shirt. I walked over to the infirmary to get a checkup, talk to Sjefa, and a lecture from Lexi for overusing my biotics. Jaal was also in the room, standing next to Sjefa and holding her hand like it was a delicate flower petal. _Delicate my butt. She could probably take us down with either her guns, bioelectricity, or wits._

"I'm sorry we fought. What we saw will set our cause on fire," reasoned Jaal albeit he still had an apologetic tone.

"Yes, my broken heart can't even process it," she responded in deep sorrow. Jaal reached out and hugged his mentor. I avoided from staring and instead sat on the medical table next to Lexi.

Lexi and I locked eyes for a moment. _She is pissed at me. You can tell by the fire in her eyes and the steam coming out of her ears._ Lexi gently rebandaged my arm and prodded at the biotic implant at the back of my neck. "Seems normal. Your mother built the implant well and adjusted it for these kinds of outbursts." _Mom knew about the short temper I had inherited from Dad and made sure that my biotics wouldn't be able to damage or overuse the implant she gave me._ Lexi continued prodding, "But that doesn't mean you can overuse your biotics like that. You still have your arm to worry about."

I nodded, "If that's all at the moment can we get some alone time?"

"Of course, Sara, but go gentle. She's still in a fragile state," said Lexi. She left the room with the door closing firmly behind her.

"Did she just call me frail?", question Sjefa.

"Yep, although I have reason to believe you're anything but that," I responded with a wink.

She laughed, "Jaal says you're a 'Pa-th-fi-nd-er' from the Mill-key Way." _Do they all have to say "Milky Way" like that?_

I nodded, "Just Ryder or Sara, Pathfinder is for people who hate me or are into politics. Now, do you feel up for a nice, little chat?"

"Ah, so now you value what I have to say?", Sjefa said with barely hidden insult.

"I chose the best option. I know that and believe in that," I said gaze firm, "And I promised to save as many as I could."

"You'll understand then when it's time for me to do what I think is right."

I nodded grimly, "I understand that much. Now, do you know what the facility's purpose is?"

"They call it exaltation," answered Sjefa, "They believe that those they exalt are given a great gift."

"Gift?", Jaal interjected with outrage, "They snatch us! Defile and shatter us!... or the ones we love. I-I can't."

"It's a complete genetic construct, an interchange of traits that the kett use to advance their species."

"So, they steal other's genes, but why?", I questioned with my brows furrowed.

"Reproduction," she said rather calmly with a scientific attitude.

"Domination. Tyranny. Annihilation," Jaal added with an angry voice.

"Yes, and yet the Archon didn't take me to his ship to transform me. I hung immobile, tormented, never sleeping, brought to him on a whim. He showed me Remnant tech and beat me when I didn't speak." _Gosh, she's like the Angara of Steel to come out of that and still be the same. To come out and not end up like Akksul._

"Remnant, of course. Because the Protheans weren't enough in the Milky Way."

"He's obsessed, like you are. Yes, Jaal told me. You rescued me to get into Aya's vault." _You too, Jaal? I explained this a dozen times and will explain it again._

"That's not the only reason. It's part of several reasons. My people need a home and allies. Rescuing you ensures this. The vault on Aya is our key to habitable planets and prosperity for both of our societies. Both of our people," I stated with my frustration slowly rising.

"I feel for your people, in a way you clearly don't for mine, but emotion must never get in the way of science. I'll take you."

"Thank you," I nodded.

"Yes, thank you Moshae Sjefa," Jaal repeated.

"I'm happy to answer any questions for you, Ryder. Anytime." _That means she doesn't care for politics and doesn't hate my guts for going against her. That's good._

I nodded and walked out of the room with Jaal next to me. Once outside and the infirmary sealed, I sank down to the ground with my back to the door.

"Ryder!", Jaal shouted, kneeling next to me in worry.

"Sh-h", I hushed putting a finger on Jaal's lips just to shut him up, "She's just so exhausting. I swear the 'She-demons' are plentiful today."

"She-demons?"

"Evil women. Stressful little things. The Cardinal, Lexi, Sjefa…"

"The Moshae is not evil."

"She is frustrating and stressful."

He opened his mouth then closed it in contemplation. Finally, he responded, "Sometimes."

I chuckled lightly at that then a thought struck me, "Thank you for saving me back there with the Cardinal." I rubbed at my neck looking down at the floor as a blush was painted on my face.

I felt something rub at my cheek and looked up to his face being closer than normal. I could see every light scar, curve, edge, and dot on his face. His eyes were contemplating something. I looked at him, questioning.

"Is your face always red?", He asked innocently.

I giggled light-heartedly, "No, but it is most of the time."

"Jaal leaned in steadily, our breathes mingling together as our lips touched," a voice whispered in the background. _If onl-No Sara! Not like that!_

We both turned to the owner of the voice and saw Peebee narrating to the whole ground team and Gil. My face heated up some more.

"Peebee! What are you doing?", I shouted in embarrassment.

"Aw, look she's blushing!", Liam shouted from behind Peebee. I shot a glare at him and he backed off, hands raised in surrender.

"I was adding some narration to your hallway romance. Would've gone better if the characters did as narrated," she grumbled with a pout and Drack laughed.

I got up off the floor, biotics flaring. Everyone's eyes widened. Next thing they knew they were being chased out of the _Tempest_ and into the cold Voeld weather. I picked up a ball of snow and threw it at Peebee only to miss and hit Gil instead. He took the challenge and the whole area erupted into a flurry of snow throwing. Some of the colonists joined in, Heleus and Milky Way species hurling snow at each other and laughing.

I heard someone yell, "Dogpile!" and was soon covered in pounds upon pounds of flesh. Then Drack yelled, "Hey I want on too!" and I felt everything in my body break as I was pushed further into the snow with over a thousand of pounds now on my body. My head was peaking from the bottom and I saw Jaal walking up to me.

"Jaal… Help… Meee….", I struggled to say, my hand escaping from the bodies to try grasping for his.

"Ryder… You're turning blue," he replied from the heavens above.

My vision blurred for a moment and then returned as the bodies were removed from on top of me. I rolled onto my back and took a deep breath in. I closed my eyes again, relishing the feel of air and ignoring everyone else. Then something peaked my interests as I heard Jaal say something along the lines of, "All right." Then I felt a pressure on my lips.

My eyes opened in shock as I saw Jaal there. Kissing me. He pulled away, worry in his eyes, then shock. I stared at him shocked as well.

"Look his 'True Loves Kiss' awakened the princess!", I heard Peebee cheer. Liam and Gil shouting hurrahs behind her.

"Their silly myth worked?", asked Jaal from above me, arms trapping me in the snow. He smiled happily at his success and the acceptance of his team mates then helped me up. _I knew I should've kept them away from Jaal!_

"Time for the wedding!", Peebee shouted dumping snow on my head.

I yelped as I felt the cold snow go down my shirt, "That's cold!"

She laughed at my expression then I started chasing her around the field of snow. Everyone was laughing in joy and happiness despite the earlier misfortune.

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **Still breathing, thank goodness for that. It's a short chapter and to make you, my nice readers, feel better about said short chapter I'll update another soon (Tomorrow or today. Depends on my mood, homework, studies, siblings, etc.) Anyways, just want to thank This Is Sarcasm for the review. Don't worry there's still a ton more to go through before that, but I won't say anymore because I might spoil it. As always I will love all of you readers, followers, likers (?), and reviews are welcome. Especially if they let me know what I'm doing wrong or right. (Or even stray comments that make me smile.)  
**

 **-MeanE**


	7. Irritating People, They Come and They Go

Dinner was eaten and no one was still dripping wet from the snowball fight from earlier. _Lexi seemed astonished when practically all of the crew boarded with snow speckled skin and a shiver running through all of our bones._ I made my rounds. Gil challenged me to poker and I eagerly accepted. Peebee was in her room and I made sure to bother her continuously as revenge for her "True Loves Kiss" scheme on me and Jaal. I also listened to the complaints, comments, and questions regarding our last mission with the kett, each person seemed worried about Jaal and his reaction.

I walked into Jaal's room, seeing the man huddled by some equipment adjacent to his bed. "Jaal?", I called.

"Thank you for checking on me, but I'm all right," He responded, continuing to work on his task.

"That's a lie," I responded, a frown on my face. His hands stopped and he rose from the ground.

"I have to be all right. How else do we go on?", he paused and turned towards me, "You know?"

"You're not 'all right' until you talk about," _Practice what you preach is not one of my standards._ "I might seem tough, but I have a good shoulder."

"That's…", He seemed lost for words, "…kind. You are kind."

He looked down taking a deep breath. "I really miss my family at times like these," he said voice filled with longing, "Are you close to your family?"

"Family seems like your center. Er… you talk about family a lot," I dodged his question.

"Really? I guess it's part of our culture. Our families are large and we share our parents with the community. We all have many mothers."

"My family is small," I mumbled.

"Are you close?"

I looked down for a moment, hand tracing at the tattoo. "I was-am. My mom and dad are… dead. My little brother is in a medically induced coma."

"I'm sorry."

I chuckled a bit bitterly. "It's fine. I mean this random collection of Tempest oddballs can feel like family sometimes. Drack's the Grandpa, Lexi's the Grandma, Peebee an annoying older sister, Kallo and Suvi the younger kids…"

"Yeah... I've never felt I've had a purpose, but here I do."

That shocked me a little. "What about the Resistance?"

"My place in the Resistance is… not what I'd like."

"But that kid on Aya looked up to you."

"Sure, but you're going to do something important, Ryder. I can feel it. This is where I should be."

"I enjoy having you around," I blurted. My voice became a bit quieter the second time around, "Specifically you."

"Because of my skill and knowledge?"

"Nope, not really."

"Because you enjoy spending your time with me as much as I do you?"

My heart stumbled, "You do?"

"Yes, you're fascinating. And special… And strange."

I laughed at the last bit. "Aw, thanks. I gotta go now, sleeping is starting to take priority above all else right now. Bye, Jaal," I waved walking out the door.

"Goodbye… Sara," Jaal said waving back.

* * *

The trip to Aya was short and my time spent sleeping even shorter. Dreams of inky Angara and a weeping Jaal prevented me from actually getting a moment of "shut eye". I wiped away the dust in my eyes and continued down the ramp extending out of the _Tempest_ , Jaal by my side, the ground team at my six, and Sjefa taking point.

A small crowd was gathered at the end of the bridge. Sjefa raised her hand high in the air and waved, "Stars and skies guide our way."

Paraan Shie emerged from the crowd and returned the wave, "Stars and skies guide our way."

"She is very charismatic," I mumbled to Jaal.

"She is the Moshae," He chuckled in return.

The two women held their arms against one another in a form of greeting.

"Welcome home," Shie said with a joyful smile on her face.

"I never thought I'd see it again. Without the Resistance-," I coughed a little and she glared at me playfully. I looked away innocently. "-And the Pathfinder I wouldn't be here."

I nodded, professionalism back in play. "We freed more than just the Moshae and the Pathfinder killed a kett leader," Jaal said in praise.

"We have a lot to celebrate," interrupted Evfra, who finally emerged from the crowd. He looked content, maybe happy. _Can't tell with that man, he's always cranky._

"I promised to lead the Pathfinder to Aya's vault," Sjefa informed him.

"Your health is top priority. If you don't feel up to it at the moment we can wait, but the sooner I learn what's unique about it the sooner I can fix the other planets."

"Then get on with it," Evfra interrupted yet again. _Pal, you're getting to be really annoying._

"I'll prepare the vault for your arrival. A shuttle will bring you to me when you're ready," stated Sjefa.

"Thank you Moshae," I responded with a small smile. She nodded her head with a smile and left.

"We've been alone with the kett for too long," started Shie, "You've proved it doesn't have to be that way. It's time we discussed an alliance between our people."

"We're happy to provide room for you on the Nexus."

"We'll provide an embassy here as well. Our city is open to you. Join us," then she nodded and left us with Evfra.

"Well done Jaal. Report for reassignment," commanded Evfra.

I felt the world drop away from under my feet for that moment. _Jaal's my friend now._ I tightened my fists. _Is it selfish and greedy to not want him to leave? Pursue his own path within the Resistance? Is this even my call? No, it's not. I'm not involved in this. This is between Evfra and Jaal, no Sara in the middle._ I looked straight ahead at the two men, jaw clenched slightly.

"I need to stay with the Pathfinder," came Jaal's reply. I finally looked at him and he sent a small smile my way.

"Jaal has already become… an important member to me-my team," I said backing up Jaal.

"Of course he has," Evfra responded tiredly, "I see the benefit. Request granted."

He turned around and left us, my team quickly following after him to explore the new city. Jaal and I were together and alone. A wide smile was painted on my face as I jumped up onto Jaal, wrapping my arms securely around his neck. He didn't move for a moment, then his large arms wrapped around my smaller frame.

"I thought you would leave me," I whispered.

"If I did then Kallo and Suvi will still be married."

I smiled for a moment. Then pulled away from him hands on his shoulders. "Wait what?", I asked confused.

"I caught Liam on the bridge the other day teaching Suvi and Kallo an old angaran folk song. At least that's what I told him it was," Jaal answered with a mischievous look.

"Okay… and?"

"Don't fret. The marriage can be dissolved by a different song. I'll try to remember it."

I laughed until tears sprung from my eyes. Jaal laughed with me, a full and hearty laugh. I took a deep breath and wiped away the tears. "That's a good reason not to leave, but I don't think you have to dissolve the marriage. They look cute together."

"I suppose," He smiled. I stepped out of his arms and released his shoulders. He started to walk away, but turned around quickly, "I need to file a mission report. Don't leave Aya without me."

"Never," I smiled.

* * *

Meridian. The control hub for all vaults. Seemed like a lucky break for us. That is until we realized that it is with Archon. On his ship. In the middle of the kett forces. To add on, the only person who knows his location is an angaran who sold Sjefa's location to Archon for who knows what reason. This person is also off the grid and won't turn up anytime sooner or later.

I sighed deeply and continued my rounds in an attempt to distract myself. I walked into the bunks and saw both Liam and Jaal working on… something. It wasn't armor swapping. _Don't know if I should be happy or sad._ I gave Liam the movie he requested and walked over to Jaal. He turned towards me, a smile on his face.

"There's always more to learn, isn't there?", Jaal questioned.

I nodded and started the onslaught of questions we became accustomed to. "Do you have a mate? A partner? I'm curious because there were some Angara on Aya getting jiggy in a-"

He cut me off, "-I don't. Not for a long time…"

"Not for a long time? So, you had one before?"

He sighed sadly and nodded. "I fell in love with a girl once, Allia. We were young," Jaal pause, reconsidering his words, "I was young."

 _So, she was older and he was innocent and inexperienced. I don't like these chances._

"It was my first Vesaal on Aya. We worked on the same farm. She was a little older, a researcher. I can still hear her laugh and see her eyes. She kissed me and I was hers. Thrilled and seduced." _I am really starting to feel bad for him._

"Didn't work out?"

"My older brother came to Aya. He was already famous in the Resistance," Jaal said a sorrow seeping into his voice. _She seems more like a player to me. Going from sweet Jaal to his famous brother. Whore._

I frowned, "Where is she now? Did they… work out?"

"They came back to Havarl and she joined my family. She became one of my mothers."

"Must be painful. Seeing her every day."

"No, they were taken by the kett. Their children survived."

"I'm sorry," My eyes were cast downward in respect.

He nodded his thanks and we went into silence. _Think of something nice to say, Sara! Comfort him or something!_

"Jaal, if it makes you feel better I think you're interesting and… well, great. I'd… ah… like to get to know you better," I shuffled in place, hands behind my back. "What'd ya think?"

I heard Liam stifle a laugh and I discreetly flipped him off.

"Yes, I'd like that."

"You are a man of few words," I responded a little underwhelmed.

Jaal noticed my disappointment and spoke again. "You are a lovely woman, fascinating, a brilliant risk-taker. Knowing you better would be a gift. Sincerely."

I was a bit blown away by that response, but still managed to smile. "Thank you."

He smiled and went back to work. I turned around and punched Liam, with only a little use of my biotics, when he snickered.

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **As promised another chapter is up. It's nice to know you guys didn't think it was out of character for any of them during the last chapter and how you enjoyed my little snowball fight. Thank you Amberstar of Thunder Clan and This Is Sarcasm (Albeit I am now concerned knowing you 2+ know each other and have some sort of alliance 0.0) for the reviews and for your excitement and evil cackles with scheming(?). Thanks to all the people who read this, favorite, review, etc. It's nice to see all the things improving and bragging to my sis about it (Although she retorts with how she has over 600 people reading her stories everyday). You guys keep me happy!**

 **-MeanE**


	8. Bow Down For The King of Douche Bags!

Havarl is, in Liam's words, "Jurassic Park without the dinosaurs". Which is entirely true except that there is a single creature that looks similar to one of those dinosaurs… and there are several Roekaar inhabiting the jungle. In other words Havarl is a living hell. It only got slightly better when we finally activated the vault after causing an angara to remember his past life, after finding said angara in a Roekaar camp, after finding a bunch of Angaran hermits at the top of a remnant tower, after… you get the point. The agonizingly slow progress to the vault irritated me to no end and, without the use of the _Nomad,_ getting to places was harder. Once that place was done and over with, _thank goodness for that_ , I went to a meeting with Sjefa and Akksul on Aya. It didn't go well at all. Especially when Akksul flipped me off by trying to decimate my first colony. Finally, this beautiful cherry on top arrived when Jaal discovered some of his family members were with the Roekaar on Havarl.

I sighed in frustration, hand scratching at my neck. "Jaal are you sure you want me here?", I questioned wearily.

"Having you here will give the Roekaar a different perspective. Just follow my lead. We'll get my family back", Jaal said, steadfast in his choice.

We landed at the outskirts of the facility and made our way in stealthily. The camp was abandoned, a ghost town, so we gave up stealth and just ran around without a care in the world. Listening closely to some voice logs of the angaran researchers and picking through supply crates.

We finally made our way into a building at the very end and Jaal stepped forward first, head bowed.

"I thought we got all of them!," exclaimed a female Roekaar. Drack and I took it as our cue and walked out from cover and into the light. They began firing and shouting at us. Then with a few well placed shots they were brought down.

"If we didn't alert them earlier then that did," I mumbled.

"They shot first. We had to defend ourselves," Jaal said, ignoring my comment.

We made our way through and out of the building into a large court yard practically dripping with Roekaar. I quickly launched myself before they were alerted of our presence, taking down a sharp shooter's shields. I quickly shot him down and slammed my fist down into the ground to launch the Angara surrounding me away. Jaal picked off a flying Roekaar with his dagger and Drack stepped over a dead body.

"Maybe that'll flush them out," I said looking towards my teammates for a moment before continuing forward towards a locked door.

"SAM? It's locked. Any suggestions?"

"I detect electrical wiring underground, Pathfinder."

I nodded and tapped in the scanner function into my Omni-tool. I looked down at the illuminated line and followed it over to a generator. I quickly unlocked the door and made my way into a hallway.

"There's a bridge to the ruins beyond those doors. My family should be there," Jaal said, hoping for the best. I smiled softly at the innocent gesture and continued out the door and into the warm sun.

The bridge stood there, ancient, but solid. Then it was gone in a burst of flames and smoke. _Are you fucking kidding me? Akksul is going to pay dearly,_ _maybe something along the lines of…scooping out his eyes with a spork_ _._ I heard Jaal groan in anger and frustration while Drack grunted. We jogged to the spot that once connected the bridge to the cliff we stood on and I turned to Jaal.

"It doesn't look like we can jump across using the bridge. Now what?", I said calmly despite my brain running through all the possible ways to torture and maim Akksul.

Jaal took a deep breath, controlling his emotions momentarily. "We'll have to jump down."

Drack looked down and back at Jaal, "That isn't even jumpable, kid."

"Use the rocks", Jaal answered slightly annoyed.

Jaal and Drack jumped down to the ledge below and I went backwards then ran towards the ledge. I launched myself up and over the two men onto the ledge on the other side of the chasm. I landed with a thud and more thuds followed when both Jaal and Drack arrived to my side. "Or don't use the rocks", Jaal mumbled giving me a sideways glance. I smirked.

"Now what?", I said smirk fading.

"Up the hill. We'll climb our way back." I nodded and we ran straight into some Roekaar who called for reinforcements. One specific Roekaar got hit in the head with my favorite Krogan Hammer and was sent flying off the edge. "Who's next?", I laughed sending a bolt of biotics at another. Jaal shot down two others while Drack rammed into a Sharp Shooter with a cackle. I put a bullet in the last one and sighed, looking into the horizon.

"That's… really pretty," I said to myself.

"I always wanted to bring you here," Jaal paused. "Not in these circumstances of course," He amended and I smiled at him. _He's so sweet, gosh... I'm going to get diabetes because of him._

We moved forward towards some broken columns and I quickly scanned them. Drack spoke, but I ignored him as I examined the data, "What was this place before the scourge?"

Jaal and I climbed on a ledge and up a hill, not noticing Drack trying to climb up behind us. Jaal spoke up, "Everyone's got a theory. The Moshae believes it was a monume-"

He was interrupted when a gun fired and my shields were taken out. I rolled into cover behind a rock, Jaal behind me while Drack was still trying to climb up the ledge with very little success.

"Intruders have reached the nest!", spoke a female Roekaar.

"I count three," another male Roekaar added. My biotics flared as I began to get up, but was quickly pulled back by Jaal. "Wait! I know those voices!"

"Lathoul, go for back up," commanded the woman.

Jaal rose with his hands held up in surrender. _What the hell is he thinking?_ I prepared to shield him if something went awry. "Lathoul!", Jaal shouted, "Wait! Stop!"

I peered from atop the rock we hid behind to see an angara rise, "It's Jaal! Jaal is that you?"

They each walked out from cover and met in the middle of the pathway. Jaal brought up his fist and punched the man, his brother, twice before they embraced, laughing loudly with joy and relief. Two more Angara rose from the cover and Drack finally gave up on climbing up and instead jumped using his jets. Jaal's brother pulled away and held him at a comfortable talking position.

"Baranjj, our mothers sent me," Jaal informed, looking close to crying happily.

"All of them?", Baranjj questioned, not quite believing Jaal.

The woman walked forward with a scowl on her face. _If looks could kill I would have died about... five times._ "Did our mothers send this human too?"

She was now in my face and I felt my temper rise steadily, but forced a smile on my face. "Jaal you never told me your sister was a bad ass." _And so willing to kill me just for existing._

Her scowl deepened, "You're people are a joke."

"No, but joking is what we do," I smiled widely. _Bring it. I have taken down too many bitches like you to care too much._

"Teviint, Ryder… Please," Jaal begged from off to the side.

Teviint turned and positioned herself behind Baranjj who stepped up to Jaal. "Why'd they send you?"

"Because we've lost enough to the kett. They're afraid to lose you to this insane cause," Jaal spoke.

"But Ja-"

"I want you to meet my friend, Sara," Jaal pulled me forward, nearly causing me to fall flat on my face. "So you can see Akksul is wrong."

I took that as my cue to speak again, "We want-no, we need to co-operate against the kett. We are here to stay and getting along with you a necessity. It's also something I truly want."

"Who cares?", was Baranjj's reply and I tightened my fists.

"The Angara don't want anything you have," supported Teviint.

"We don't need you."

"Jaal, our mothers want us to live truthfully."

"It's because I love my mother that I will die for this cause."

The angara, Lathoul, who stuck mostly to the background finally pushed past his siblings, "Akksul is going to blow this place up!"

"Lathoul!", shouted Teviint. _You only confirmed what he said._

"That's why he sent the researchers away," He continued despite her protests.

"Stop. Talking," She growled.

"He has bombs stolen from your people!"

"If those bombs go off the Angara will be launched into a war against the Initiative! It will destroy both of our people! Son of a bitch!", I shouted, panic beginning to lace my voice.

"We have to disarm them," Jaal said trying to calm me.

"I'll tal-", Lathoul was cut off by a shot of a gun and he fell forward into our arms, gaping in shock and pain.

Teviint stood there, eyes cold, and rifle pointing at where Lathoul was. Then what she did finally sunk and she dropped the gun with her eyes widening in shock and horror. She backed away face in her hands and Baranjj dragged her away from us.

Jaal and I settled Lathoul back onto the rock behind us. Jaal turned to follow the fleeing pair, but was brought back by Lathoul's pained voice. "No, no, no. The bombs. In the Forge. I'm okay Jaal, I'll be fine."

I looked at him with concern, "You'll be alright?"

"I hate Akksul. Don't let him win," He spoke painfully.

I smiled, "No way in hell will he win against me."

We both got up and jogged over to the Forge, "We need to disable those bombs. If Akksul is willing to blow up the Forge then there's nothing he won't do. Ryder, if he shows up…", Jaal whispered.

"I know. Don't do whatever I want with him and follow your lead."

We came to an opening and I threw a lance at a Roekaar closest to the bombs, alerting all of his mates of our presence. "The bombs are already set!", Jaal shouted over the gunfire. I launched myself at the Roekaar I hit earlier and killed him.

"How long?", I asked, my hammer swinging into the skull of a Sharp Shooter.

"A few minutes at most," came SAM's response.

Drack chuckled, "Plenty of time!". He jumped into a crowd of the Angara, squishing two underfoot.

I hacked into the bomb controls while Jaal and Drack took care of the Roekaar trying to stop me. A shuttle arrived and I shot myself to another Roekaar. I ran to the bomb and disabled it again, grunting as my shield went down and a bullet brushed my cheek. I pushed myself into cover. A Roekaar came up into my blind spot and hit me with the butt of his gun. I fell backwards for a moment, stunned. He tried to bring his rifle back down on me, but I caught it and smiled wickedly. Next thing he knew he was flying across the cavern.

I ran to the next bomb at the center of some pillars and disabled it, ignoring the pain emanating from my jaw. The bomb was disabled quickly and I sprinted to the next one, opposite of where Jaal and Drack were fighting. Three Roekaar decided to surrounded me and I slammed my fist into the ground causing them to fly far enough from me that I could hack the final bomb without much worry. A rifle cracked and I heard a thud from behind me, but I continued.

"Last bomb disabled," I cracked my knuckles, "Time to get rid of these pansies."

Drack laughed. "Let's play some baseball", I said using throw to launch a rock at a Roekaar, instantly killing him from the blow. "Strike one and you're already out," I sighed disappointed. I looked around to see no one there and put my shotgun back in its holster, walking over to Jaal's side.

"Jaal! Jaal!", cried a female voice from the cave's entrance. Teviint emerged, panicked. "I killed Lathoul. I killed him. I'm so sorry." Her hands held onto Jaal's shoulders, head bowed in repentance and exhaustion.

"He's not dead. You're lucky", Jaal replied.

"I lost my mind Jaal. I want to go home."

"But the cause," interrupted Baranjj who emerged from behind her, "I joined because of you."

"I shot our brother."

"Don't leav-"

"Let her go. I only want soldiers who are committed to our cause," interrupted Akksul. _Bow down for the King of Angaran Douche Bags has appeared!_ "Not weaklings who stand by and watch the destruction of our people at the hands of aliens."

More Angara than we could handled emerged from the rock outcropping above us, pointing their weapons at us "Aliens".

"You're the one who will be your own destruction. You could have plunged both of our people into war trying to frame us 'Aliens'! A leader who acts purely on feelings of pain, grief, and revenge is a tyrant!", My words reverberated off the walls. _Cue clapping. Bow._ _Thank you. Thank you. Now, where are my roses?_

"I speak for our people and I say you're done in Heleus!", Akksul retorted.

My biotics visibly flared as he pointed towards me, but I was stopped by Jaal who rose his hand in front of me. "Ryder, don't!"

Akksul laughed and walked closer to me. Deciding that getting in my face is a good idea. "Martyr me please. I dare you."

I growled, "You're making a promise that I made to my friend really hard to keep." My shoulders rolled and the purple glow of biotics became a solid line around me rather than its usual wispy-ness. _Can't wait to kill him._

Akksul turned towards the gathering people, "They move onto our planets. They take our resources, make us weak."

"I've watched Ryder make planets habitable," Jaal protested, voice equaling that of Akksul's.

"Exactly and they'll never let us forget it!"

"She rescued our beloved Moshae."

"I know," people began to think on Jaal's words, looking at each other for an answer.

"Saved her life."

"I know! Stop defending them!"

"The Moshae trusts Ryder and-"

Akksul pointed a gun at Jaal and I stopped breathing, pulse thrumming in my ears, biotics humming, body tense.

"Stop! We've been fighting the wrong enemy. Maybe the enemy is this traitor!", Akksul exclaimed in madness, desperate for someone to be on his side.

"Easy...", Jaal mumbled, hands spread out in peace.

I raised my hand, prepared to take down Akksul if he hurt Jaal. "Jaal?", I asked voice small and scared.

"Don't!". He commanded, but I didn't move my hand. "The Moshae trusts Ryder. You've become a danger to your own people. Walk away."

"Or… I kill you and reveal the Resistance for the traitors they are!"

I was completely frozen, a force inside me stopping me from releasing the biotic energy. _Maybe fear? Maybe loyalty or trust?_ Then Akksul's gun fired and, as if in slow motion, grazed against Jaal's cheek into the boulder behind. I twitched slightly, biotic flare now gone, but body still tense. Emotions surged through me like a tsunami, too many to fully comprehend and too destructive to truly ignore.

The audience shuffled and began walking away, looking at Akksul in disgust.

"The alien is not the monster here," spoke Jaal a coldness in his voice.

"I love my people," was Akksul's only words.

Jaal remained silent then started walking away, "Come on. Let us get you home."

We remained silent, walking side by side. A gaping hole in my chest filled with emotions of fear, rage, joy, and doubt.

"You okay?", I asked voice still small and my mind still trying to grasp at what I should be feeling right now.

"Yeah, thanks."

I faked a smile to hide my thoughts that whirled and swirled constantly. Then a flame of pain emerged from where I had been hit earlier ending the smile. Jaal didn't notice and instead helped me into the shuttle.

* * *

I exited the shuttle and walked to the edge of the platform over looking the wilds of Havarl. I leaned against the rails and sighed, still tense and angry from the stunt Jaal pulled. I felt a stab of guilt for being angry at him and for not appreciating the risk he took.

I looked over my shoulder and saw Jaal being embraced by one of his mothers. Loneliness clutched at my gut as distant memories resurfaced and I looked away. _I miss her so much..._ I took a few deep breathes, keeping the tears at bay. My ears perked up at the sound of footsteps approaching me.

"Thank you", spoke Jaal, voice slightly uplifted, "For not shooting Akksul. If you did it would have only made the Roekaar stronger."

I felt furry emerge within me again as that Douche Bag emerged in my mind again. The fact that Jaal didn't move when he was shot at scared me, made me angrier. Tears leaked from my eyes. I turned to face Jaal and slapped him. His face whipped to the side, contorted in pain and shock at my actions. Then Jaal faced me, taking in my tear ridden face. I furiously rubbed away the tears and his expression softened.

"You worried me!", I screamed, "He tried to kill you!"

My voice slowly faded down into a whisper, "You had me so damn worried." My fists were clenched tightly at my side and I was staring at the floor, vision distorted.

I felt two arms wrap around me and my face was pulled into Jaal's chest. Nothing happened at first and then the dam broke and I became a sobbing mess. Jaal's hand stroked my hair, cheek leaning on my head. Comforting words were whispered into my ear, soothing me, and ending the tears.

"Promise me," I whispered softly into his chest, "Promise me you won't go... Please"

"I promise that I won't leave you, Sara."

I pulled away a little and Jaal captured my face in his hands, preventing my eyes from leaving his gave. His thumb swiped a tear away and he noticed the purpling skin on my cheek. He rubbed it a bit too harshly and caused a hiss to emit from my mouth. His thumb stopped rubbing it and he looked at me, a question on his lips.

"A Roekaar pansy got a lucky hit," I mumbled. He was still curious. "When human's get hit really har by something or someone the spot we were hit changes color."

"It will heal?"

"Yes it will heal," My thumb reached up and traced around the wound on his cheek, "Just like how yours will heal."

He gently laid his forehead on mine and we embraced for a moment, not wanting to let go, but we eventually did. I held onto his hand, using him as an anchor for this twisted reality.

"We should get back, I want to say my final goodbye to my family before they head home."

"You can always go visit with them if you want."

He looked at me, "If I do you will come with me."

I nodded a smile on my lips. He smiled widely back.

* * *

We walked out of the shuttle, trailing behind Jaal's siblings who walked hand in hand with their mothers. The sky was dark, but the ground was illuminated by flora the color of Jaal's poncho and lamps that also shone blue. Jaal walked forward through the door and into a dim hallway. I followed after him, slow and unsure of how "invited" I was especially after the whole Akksul fiasco. Then a female angara in turquoise clothing ran forward yelling his name with a joyful smile on her face and embraced Jaal.

The woman backed out of his arms and I finally got a clear view. The woman had a blue face and a green head, but I could be mistaken because of the tinted blue lights. A smile naturally fell on her lips and her eyes seemed gentle and caring. _Only Jaal's mother would have the same kind look as him._

"Wait. Is there bad news?", She asked gravely, smile faded.

"No, the Pathfinder is interested in where I grew up," He reassured. Jaal turned towards me, "Ryder, this is my true mother. Sahuna Ama Darav." _She seems...very huggable…_

Before my mind could give another word of advice against this, I was already tightly embracing Jaal's mother. "You seemed like the hugging type," I smiled, backing away after our quick embrace.

"Jaal's told me how much he admires you."

I smirked, sending Jaal a sideways glance. "Really?"

"He's my favorite. Smart, loyal, kind, a great shot, writes poetry… sews," Sahuna listed off with a smile.

"M-mother...", Jaal interrupted. _Must be embarrassed because now I know he sews. Maybe she'll show me baby pictures as well._

She chuckled, "I'm late for a Resistance meeting. Stay clear." She held both of our shoulders for a moment, meeting our eyes, then walked past both of us.

"Your mom's in the Resistance?"

"Yes. And… every child is her favorite," Jaal said smiling like he just told a secret. I smiled back and we walked into another room… exploding with Angara. I gaped at the amount of people, the amount of siblings and relatives Jaal has. "Everyone," Jaal announced, causing the room to go quiet, "This is Sara."

I quickly closed my mouth and smiled, giving an awkward wave. "Hi."

An angara walked forward, "Look who the kaerkyn dragged in!"

"Welcome back," another greeted.

"This is where I spent most of my days growing up. Me. My sister, Koana, our cousin Etta, our brother, Finn. Then Basvil, Rollu...", started Jaal. _Holy cow… and I thought some families on Earth were unnaturally huge._

"So wonderful to have you," a female spoke up.

"Hey, Jaal! Hey, human!", spoke up Baranjj.

"Jaal. You bringing someone special to meet us?", Another female said while walking by.

"Wow," I said a bit overwhelmed, "Cozy." _More like cramped._

"We like to live like this," Jaal said, moving forward through the crowd.

"Gonna give your friend some real food?", Teviint asked. _At least she's not acting like a jerk anymore._

"Good to see you still!", Lathoul said from behind.

Jaal continued into a closed off room, the door shutting and stopping all sounds from entering or exiting. "And here's my room. My tiny sanctuary," He said, lifting his arms to show off the room.

"'Home is where the heart is'. You can go places far and wide, but if you don't bring your heart it'll never be home," I said, examining the room while Jaal walked forward moving a box off the bed and onto the ground.

"I like that," He said then something caught his eye. "Oh no. Who put this here?", He asked picking up a fairly large box and sitting down on the bed. I sat down next to him, curiosity pulling me towards the box and its mysterious contents.

He opened it and I peered inside. "Schematics? Of...", I trailed off waiting for him to finish.

"When I was seven," he supplied, taking my hint. "My aunt stole a kett weapon for me. So I took it apart. To learn." He digged deeper and I saw a corpse within the box. _Please don't tell me…_

"And that… is your latest science project? Dissecting a kaerkyn?", I questioned.

"It was my pet kaerkyn- Alfit. He died. So I also… took him apart."

"To… learn?"

"Why not?"

I pursed my lips and nodded. _Fair point._ We remained silent for a moment and I leaned back on my hands. Jaal, in turn, leaned forward and put the box to the ground, shifting his body towards me.

"I don't show people these things," he confessed. Looking down for a moment, then back up. "You make my heart sing and...I want us to be together," Jaal stated, sounding like he just did some great feat. _Did he just confess?_ My heart stopped for a moment as he looked into my eyes. I smiled, "Now, why would I say no, Jaal?"

Jaal began to laugh happily at his success. "Yes!" He said with relief and a cute little fist pump that made me laugh. Jaal shifted closer to me, smile softer, and placed his hand on my cheek. "I adore you," He said softly. Then he pulled me forward and our lips locked. The contrasting textures of our lips was odd at first, then we steadily grew comfortable with our differences. I pulled away for air, feeling my body relax the most it has during this whole day. Jaal stared at me for a moment, a bit bewildered at our experience, not used to being out of his own comfort zone. Then he got up, "Let me show you one more thing you might like. Lie down."

He pulled me up from the bed gently. I obeyed his orders and lied on the ground, watching him walk to the other side of the room. Then a projection appeared above me and my eyes widened in awe as I saw a galaxy spread out before me. Jaal walked back to my side and lied down next to me.

"Beautiful. Where did you get it? Did you make it?", I questioned.

"I made it long ago. It's not accurate. More of a dream really," He answered, "Just one more thing I want to take apart and figure out."

"That's cute, Jaal," I sighed with a smile.

He chuckled, turning towards me. "And now I have someone to do it with."

We held hands.

I let loose a happy sigh.

"My mother is going to love you," Our hands bounced a little. "I'm sorry."

"Jaal, you're going to be the one that's sorry," I smiled widely, a scheme forming in my head.

He looked over at me, confused, and then shook his head and returned his eyes to the stars above.

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **So, I have some news that may upset some of you. I'm getting a bit held back in typing my chapters, I want to add some new chapters, and I'm also trying to write a new Dragon age and another Mass Effect Andromeda fic because... I can. In order to catch up and add some more chapters though I'll have to post once or twice every week instead of every other day, unfortunately. The good thing about this is that it will mean I get to read more reviews, more people don't have to scramble just to catch up, and this story won't be only 15 chapters long, but maybe 20-30 instead. Now that that's off my chest I want to thank you guys for the giant influx of reviews. I was so happy when I came home and saw 17 reviews. Now to address those reviews:**

 **Jayfeattheris Awesome: That would be amazing. Don't know if it is possible, but it is a great idea. I also think Kallo and Suvi would do pretty well together, I mean they do have their moments.**

 **Morbicity: You're very welcome. Albeit he is still a kid at heart (at least to me he is)**

 **Birdy and Owl: Thank you for the images ;). I actually only recently found that line and thought it would be great to add in albeit I didn't know where to add it until I was typing up the chapter. Anyways, thanks for the compliment on my writing style (Just wait until I get to some of the darker stuff. I promise I'll try my best and it'll be great!)**

 **Amberstar of Thunderclan: Still wondering what you're scheming, but nursery rhymes are still welcome!**

 **Novafyre: Clam down! I'm getting there! It'll take some time and creative juices, but I will get there!**

 **Ditsy Kitty: Of course I will continue this! I will not let you down! I promise that much.**

 **Every one else who didn't review: I still acknowledge you guys and you are great for just reading this.**


	9. A Pirate Fire Drill

_Jaal. You're so nice. Sweeter than… ice cream._ I giggled drunkenly and lifted up the cup filled with lilac colored alcohol to my lips. I looked out the window of my cabin and stared in awe at the stars. _They look just like his EYES!_ I gasped and slammed the drink down only to pick it back up to take another swig. _I should be writing this on paper! Maybe share it with Gil and see how much better my poetry is. Because it's probably wa-ay better._

My drunken stupor was interrupted by some red lights flashing into the room and an alarm going off. _The Space Cops! They've found me!_ I giggled again with a hiccup and picked up my alcohol. I stumbled out of the room to see everyone racing down the hall and to the _Nomad's_ bay. _Why are they running? Do they need to throw up? Hide a body?_ I shrugged and continued to waltz down the hallway, nearly tripping over my own feet.

The world tipped sideways for a moment, then tipped the other way. _Am I on a roller coaster? No. I should be on my ship, hunting for booty, and saying "Argh!" while waving my hooked hand in the air! Where is my hook hand anyways?_

I continued down the ramps and into the bay where I saw the whole team gathered. Cora was holding a check list and a timer was ticking on her Omni-tool. When she finally noticed me she looked confused, then her eyes dropped to the precious lilac drink I held. Her eyes narrowed considerably.

"Ryder. What's that in your hands?", Cora questioned.

"Wha-at? Waddy ya mean?", I answered voice slurred.

"What is that?"

"I dunno kno-ow."

"Tell me."

"Why?", I smiled mischievously.

"Because I want to know if that's what I think it is."

"Wha' ya dink it iz? Weel, it'z not the bottle from Cora's Den that you haz stazhed away. I don dink. Maybee it'z tha' 'R' stuff tha' Drack haz..."

"Ryncol?"

"Tha' it! But I don dink it'z that..."

Our conversation caught the attention of the team. I noticed Vetra staring at me and I held my bottle closer to my body. I quickly stuck out my tongue, "It'z mine!"

She scoffed and her attention turned to those around her. Cora sighed and looked around the group. "Where are Peebee and Drack?"

I giggled and she looked over at me. "Drack'z ztuck."

Liam walked up to us, voice sarcastic. "Yes, let us believe the drunk hooligan that just walked in."

"Psh!", I waved my hand at him, "If ya don belieze me then look at the ladderz."

He stared at me skeptically and then went to the doors leading to the ladders I spoke of. A moment later Liam and Drack were walking on the upper story path. Drack rubbed at his hump a bit and Liam stared down at me in something akin to shock. I giggled again, switching my attention to Gil who stood a couple of feet away from me. "Hey Gil! Me poetry be beetter," I yelled at him.

"Really, Pathfinder? First, you beat me at poker. Now, you want to beat me at poetry?"

"Yep. Shall I begain?"

He laughed, "Sure."

"Erkay, let'z see… Romeo, Romeo, Where fore art thou sweet Romeo..."

"That's Romeo and Juliet. Nice try."

"Finee… Ah… If eyes were cleaner, no one would be meaner. For if evil gone, then good would be for none."

Gil stared for a moment. Then nodded slowly in acceptance and I give him a crooked smile.

"I'll admit it. That was better than the stuff I sent you."

I giggled, but was quickly cut off with a hic-up. Then giggled some more. The moment ended quickly when someone ran into me and the lilac bottle slipped from my grasp. I stared in shock as the bottle crashed to the ground and the bottle shattered. I fell to my knees.

"No!", I cried, "Me bootay! No!"

I stared at the dark purple liquid for a moment tears spurting from my eyes, then I looked up to the culprit. Peebee stood there, panting. _Every time! She ruins things every time! My love life! My friend life! My pirate life!_

I slowly rose from the ground and glared at Peebee with as much viciousness as a drunken person could muster. She slowly turned towards me and saw my glare, then looked to the puddle of alcohol and back.

"How in the goddesses name did you get here faster than me while drunk?", she asked astonished.

"I don't know Peebee, but you're extremely late. Again," Cora responded, clicking the timer off.

"Anz you maze me drop me booze!", I garbled. She laughed a little at my drunken response. I huffed and turned around, kneeling down by the puddle again. _My Lilac… Sweet, sweet Lilac. Although not as sweet as Jaal. He's sweeter than Lilac… more intoxicating than Lilac. Where is he?_

I got up from my crouched position and looked around the room to see Jaal talking with Lexi about something. I tried my best to causally walk over, but ended up landing face first onto the floor. _Ow… My peg leg must have tripped me again…_

I slowly got up, peeling my face from the floor to see both Jaal and Lexi staring at me in astonishment. I smiled widely back. My nose flared up in pain, but I ignored it.

"Hiyah, darling one," I looked to Lexi, face becoming a bit more serious. "Mother."

She frowned in disagreement and Jaal kneeled down in front of me. He grabbed my chin gently and felt my forehead, then examined my eyes. "Whaat? Am I seck or somethin'?", I slurred out.

Lexi rolled her eyes and sat on the floor, not standing in fear of my legs giving out on me again. Jaal stayed rather close and kept on examining my face.

"Are you drunk, Sara?", He finally questioned.

"Naw, I'm jus' a spacey pirate looking at a giant ball of wibbly wobbley timey wimey stuff," I said rather nonchalantly. Jaal seemed confused.

"O' course I'm drunk ye' bloat!", I yelled, "I'm the Captain of this ship! And I will get drunk when ever me wants too!"

Jaal seemed astonished and Lexi simply sighed from behind me. "Can you take Ryder to her cabin, Jaal?", Lexi finally asked.

"But maw… I wanna capture some more of the East Space Trading Company's frigates...", I pouted.

Lexi started getting annoyed, her eye taking on a slight twitch. "Take her now before she starts talking about firing cannons and finding hidden treasure."

Jaal complied to her wish and took me up in his arms. I simply pouted and snuggled in closer to his body warmth, not willing to start a fight while in his arms. We passed by the broken bottle of Lilac and I stuck my tongue out at it. _Are you jealous now Lilac? I have a better man who cares for me and doesn't break!_ Jaal chuckled at my antics and we continued down the dark and narrow hall into my cabin.

Once inside Jaal settled me on the bed and made to walk away, but I grabbed onto his arm and pulled him back gently. He turned to look at me and I took the opportunity to roughly bring him onto the bed with me. I giggled at Jaal's shout of surprise as he practically fell on top of me. Jaal managed to only stop a few inches away from my face, arms on either side of my body and keeping him above me rather than on me. He glared at my jokingly and I laughed. He kissed me quickly and turned over so that he laid by me side. I pouted frustrated by the short interaction then got over it and snuggled up against him. I laid my head on Jaal's chest and his arms wrapped snuggly around my waist, pulling me closer.

My eyes began to drift closed. "I found me hidden treasure," I whispered with a small smile gracing my lips.

* * *

I woke up with a huge headache and the need to drink water or juice. I was alone, yesterday was a blur, and the whole bed smelled like Jaal. My brows lowered in confusion and pain. I slowly stood up and walked out of the empty room, every step, hum, and sound causing a jolt of pain to erupt in my head. A blue figure came to me clad in her usual purple. Peebee.

"You had quite a night. Even Jaal seemed energetic," She smiled mischievously.

I cocked my eyebrows. "What?"

"I never knew you were so willing to throw yourself onto him. I mean you two have only gotten together a couple days ago and you already bed him? Tch, tch," She shook her head.

"What?", I yelled only to wince at the volume of my voice.

"Yeah, I saw him coming out of your room earlier this morning. Had the biggest smile on his face," She smirked.

My jaw dropped. _Is she lying? Is she telling the truth? Did I just… lay with Jaal while drunk? Would he even do that?_

"Peebee. Please tell me your lying," I begged a hand coming up to pinch the bridge of my nose as another wave of pain emanated from my head.

"I won't tell," She smiled a wide, unsettling grin.

"Then I'll go ask him," I said resolutely and started going down the hall. "He wouldn't lie to me."

"I wouldn't be too sure, Ryder. He did mention one of his bottle's of Tavum was missing… said it was a purple, maybe a lilac, color."

My eyes widened in recognition. _Lilac._ I felt like banging my head against the wall. Peebee giggled at my expression and quickly walked away, leaving me to drown in my own shame and misery. I shook my head and speed-walked to Jaal's room. The door stood before me in an intimidating way. I took a few breathes and entered hoping I didn't somehow screw our relationship over by being drunk. Jaal was on the far side of the room, kneeled down next to... something. _Would I even want to know?_

"Hey, Jaal," I waved although his back was still turned.

Jaal dropped a tool and rose up quickly. He slowly turned around.

"Um… Boo?"

"What? I-I'm not scared," He quickly responded eyes darting to the side before coming back to my eyes. "One second."

"Oh, I just wanted to talk unless you were busy… which it does seem like you are busy," I responded awkwardly rubbing at my tattoo. _Smooth, Sara. Totally not an awkward start to a conversation about whether you two had se-_

"-If I'm busy, my mind is occupied with… whatever I'm working on rather than worrying," He responded back. _This conversation is so tense it hurts._

"Whatever works I suppose," I shrugged, trying desperately to ease up the atmosphere.

"I'd like your advice on something."

"Shoot."

"I'm making gifts for everyone. I have a list."

That threw me off for a moment. "Gifts?"

"Do turians like poetry? For Vetra, I'm writing a poem and engraving it on… I'm not sure yet."

"I'm sure she would like it. I mean, who doesn't like a personalized poem?"

"Great," He sighed in relief, "Maybe I could just recite it to her."

"When you do, I want to be there," I smiled widely.

"Liam seems to like my Rofjinn. I might sew him one."

"Let me be there for that as well," My smile grew even bigger.

"Do krogan like knives? I could craft a ceremonial angaran dagger for Drack."

"If I know Drack, which I do, he would love anything that was considered a weapon."

"It's mainly decorative."

"He'll still love it."

Jaal's eyes flared with curiosity, "Would you like one?"

"Jaal," I finally ended, trying to get through to him. "It's nice of you to do this, but it's a ton of work. Tell me what's really going on."

He sighed, head lowering slightly. "I'm sure that I seem confident and skilled to you. But I'm not. Or, I don't feel like I am." His eyes looked downcast.

"Jaal," I brought my hand up to his cheek, "You're great."

He looked me in the eye, "That's so..."

"It's true," I smiled softly.

I felt the skin under my hand warm up slightly, "You're making me blush."

"Heh, I can tell," I purred slightly.

The skin grew hotter. He looked away for a moment then back at me, "My family is well-known. Our lineage is respected, many of my kin have achieved great things… I've never been one of them."

My eyebrow was raised in confusion, "Really? I would think otherwise."

His eyes softened, "So many elder siblings and cousins who succeeded at everything- I stopped trying to keep up."

"I can understand that. My mom and dad were famous for their achievements so my brother and I were expected to do great things. Become the next Commander Shepard in our galaxy."

Jaal nodded his head, "Thank you for listening and understanding."

"Jaal, you're going to do great things. I promise," I leaned up and kissed him.

He wrapped his arms around my waist and deepened the kiss. I pulled away.

"I nearly forgot!", I exclaimed slowly feeling a blush rise on my cheeks.

"Sara, you're blushing," He smirked.

"Oh… um… That's because…," I took a deep breath. "Peebee says we laid with each other while I was drunk."

He seemed confused, "Yes. We did. You lied on top of me and slept."

"No, no, no."

"Is it an idiom?"

"Yes..."

"For what?"

"Ah… um… It basically means we made love… um… Had sex."

His skin felt like it was on fire and I had to pull my hand away.

"Oh… um… No… we didn't then…", Jaal responded, looking at anywhere except my eyes. We remained extremely awkward for a moment, a silence engulfing the room.

"Do you want to kill Peebee for spreading more rumors about us?", I asked.

He smiled evilly. "Of course."

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **Another chapter albeit it is more of those just for fun kind of chapters (I really wanted to see how the fire drill actually went, but it t'was all for not). Been a bit busy. Had church stuff, school stuff, and social stuff to do, but that is no excuse! Anyways, thanks for the favorites, follows, reading, and just taking a peek at it. It's interesting to see how many people look at the newest chapters compared to the oldest ones. Now the reviews:**

 **Birdy and Owl: Yeah, I only realized the terrible transition when you mentioned it so thank you for that. I also do realize that I kind of rushed it. I've never been the best with action scenes, especially when it's not one-on-one or sword fighting. (Guns is sorta just you shoot the guy until your ammo is gone (at least to me)). Finally, I ramble a ton too. It's okay! I think I had a scene similar to that that I might've put in, but took out in the final type up.**

 **Amberstar of Thunderclan: I totally agree with you on everything (per the norm). Unfortunately, MEA decided that you had to either kill him or not. No in-betweens.**


	10. Love Birds

Jaal and I sat next to each other on the medical table, back from scanning mutated animals on Havarl. Liam had already been patched up and left eagerly saying how he didn't trust Lexi to not give him a shot. Lexi was on the other side of the room, grabbing some anti-septic and medi-gel from a cabinet. Drack sat across from us, talking to Lexi who was fussing about his health.

"How's the face wound?", I asked, looking over at Jaal from the corner of my eye.

"It'll leave an impressive scar," he paused, "I heard Milky Way women think scars are… attractive."

I laughed, "That is only for Krogan women… and me."

A gravely laugh echoed from across the room. "Kids," He mumbled to Lexi who simply nodded in agreement. I pouted at them and Jaal chuckled softly at my antics. Lexi went back to us and applied the medicine to the scratches and new scars. She walked away, finished with her work.

I lifted my hands to Jaal's face and gently traced around the scar with my finger. "A single centimeter to the right...", I mumbled.

Jaal noticed my concern, "Akksul was always a terrible shot."

I laughed, "I can tell. I guess your handsomeness blinded him."

Lexi cleared her throat. "Stop nesting here Love-Birds!", She said shooing us away with her hands.

"Of course Lexi," Jaal said politely, "Shall we continue this in the Tech labs?"

"Sure," I smiled having Jaal help me up. We walked, hand in hand, out of the room. I let go and let Jaal go up the ladder to the next floor first then went up after him. Once on the floor I felt myself get swept off my feet and I unconsciously wrapped my arms around the nearest thing, Jaal's neck. I blushed as Jaal carried me bridal style to his room, Vetra and Liam looked up from their tasks and stared in shock as we entered into their room, then Liam frowned as he mumbled something along the lines of, "I owe Peebee two hundred credits."

He sat down on the bed with me on top of his lap, I rotated so that my legs were wrapped around his waist in a more comfortable position. At least in my opinion it was comfortable. I saw him lean in and I met him half-way, willing to practice some more on our… techniques. It was less rushed this time, less forceful and hungry. His firm lips explored my softer ones and I let him. _Wait until your brother finds out about this little cross species liaison._ I ignored my thoughts and gripped onto him tighter. Jaal's hands went up and down on my waist until he finally settled on a position and pulled me in further.

Then we broke off, giving each other a chance to breath. Jaal stared at me, a longing that he expressed more than I physically could. We leaned in closer, closing the gap between our bodies. Every inch of flesh touching his. I met his eyes and saw the raw, unburdened emotion showing on his face. I smiled and kissed him again, not long, not sloppy, just a peck.

Jaal huffed, annoyed at the end of our little "kissing session" and I laughed. I went to get up, to create a more comfortable and less tempting space between us, but Jaal halted me. Wrapping his arms tighter around my waist.

"Are we just going to talk like this from now on?", I asked, still smiling brightly.

"For now perhaps… but later? Probably not," Jaal purred, hands traveling further down my body. I shivered a little at the touch.

Then I pulled away, making my point of talking clear. I began a new discussion, "Was becoming a member of the Resistance always a career you wanted? Didn't you study something else in school?"

"I… no. I don't really like to talk about it," He paused, then let loose a sigh in surrender. "I'm not a fighter. Not really," He began, contemplating on his choice of words, "The kett occupation was chaos, so our education is chaotic. I'm not really anything. But, that's an excuse. The truth is, I don't know what I want yet for my life at this age. I hope being here will...inspire me."

"How about your family? I've meet them, not formally though, and you honestly haven't told me much."

"This will take some time," a smile was placed on his lips, "Is someone bringing us snacks and drinks?"

"I know you're family is large. Hell, I've seen how huge your family is, but is it bigger?"

He nodded, smirking at my astonished face. "That was only a portion of my family. I have my one true mother and more than five additional mothers and many, many, many siblings and cousins all raised together. Our families constantly change and evolve. Relationships come and they go."

"And your dad?", I asked with a smaller voice, hoping it's not what I fear it is.

"My father is gone. Taken or killed by the kett. We never found the body," Jaal bowed his head forward slightly in mourning.

"I'm sorry I brought it up. I can… understand how you might feel," I said lowering my face onto his shoulder. His arms wrapped around me for a moment and then I lifted my head up.

"Something in common between aliens, then. We are fatherless, yet we fight on," Jaal smiled kindly, hand on my cheek. I smiled back and he removed his hand from its position on my cheek to rest on top of the hands that laid on my own lap.

"Do Angara plan their futures? Dream of what they want to do?," I questioned.

He laughed causing me to frown. "You put 'Plan' and 'Dream' in the same question." He noticed my serious expression and scrunched up his eyebrows. "Oh, you meant to do that."

He took a deep breath as if preparing for a long speech. "Angara thirst for now. We don't strive to make the future better, we strive because the present is lacking."

 _Look at the prey. Not the horizon._ I nodded taking in the new information. Jaal cleared his throat and my attention turned towards him. "Is it my turn to ask the questions?"

I chuckled and nodded, "If you want."

"What was your home planet like?"

I was taken aback. _How would you answer that? I can barely describe it._ "Earth is… well, it's home. It was home. We have several ecosystems. Deserts, rain forests, beaches, valleys, mountains, swamps, and so much more. Each place having such differing animals and plants. It's like combining every single planet here together into one planet… well without as much dangers. You would love it there."

I continued getting lost in my memories, "There are so many cultures and traditions I couldn't even name them all. We were such a divided species before we discovered the Relay and met the other races of the Milky Way. I suppose instead of listening rant on about Earth I can instead get you some vids to watch."

"I would appreciate that," He responded happy to let me revisit old memories.

Jaal opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by SAM's mechanical voice, "Pathfinder, you have urgent emails."

I let loose a sigh and chuckle bitterly. "Thank you SAM. I guess that's our mystery man," I looked into Jaal's eyes, "And our conversation will have to be on hold."

He seemed disappointed and I quickly kissed him. "It won't be too long, promise," I smiled getting off of his lap.

"Stay strong, darling one," Jaal voice echoed as I left the room.

My smile of content stayed there as I stood outside his door. Vetra looked up from a console, questioning why I looked like that. I ignored her and just went to my cabin to look at the emails and catch up on some rest. I sat down at the desk and turned on the console.

 _An email from Evfra on the traitor's location. Good. And… an email from Jaal's mother? What could this be? What could this mean? Is she really like Evfra?_ A shiver raced up my spine. _I sure as hell hope that's not the case._

I looked over the email quickly. Sahuna seemed to have several questions… several bold questions. I felt heat creep up my face as I read over some and I quickly sent some of the questions to Lexi, giving her the more… private questions especially that involving child birth and… more fragile subjects.

I typed up an email answering many questions she had and also telling her about Jaal's time so far on the _Tempest_ since parting ways with her. _I'm just going to assume curiosity is a trait that was passed down in Jaal's family._ Then I decided to send some questions back to her. I smiled in success and sent the email with the information Lexi sent back with me.

 _Jaal is going to rue the day he introduced us to each other._

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **The next chapter, yay! Anyways, I am sorry for anything I may have done or may do. Especially since I'm going to have to revise the rest of this stories chapters because of a stupid decision my sister decided to advise me on. Onto the review:**

 **Jayfeattheris Awesome: No Peebee will not have any orange juice poured on her, milk is a maybe though (milk+outside world+time=Foul Odor)**

 **Thank you for all and any reviews! Also thanks for the follows, likes, or just reading! :D**

 **-MeanE**


	11. The Vile Eunuch

I sauntered into the room, seemingly relaxed with my hands kept snugly in my pockets. The Kadaran sun seeping through the large window that was behind a slightly smaller looking throne of sorts. A tanned woman sat on the seat, planning positions and sending out teams of troops from her seated position. Sloane Kelly, notorious for her very biased way of living to put it lightly.

The krogan that escorted me into the room made to push me forward, but I glared menacingly at him, biotics flaring in warning. He grunted and backed away from me slightly, gun still at the ready. _At least she hired some krogan._

"Focus defenses here and here. The kett have been quiet for too long," The "queen" said into the hologram, touching and pointing at points on her map. She swiped the image away and met my eyes. "What?"

I smirked, "Nice throne. Pretty sure anyone would bow down, maybe kiss your rings."

"Very funny," Kelly remarked sarcastically. "So, what brings a Pathfinder to our humble port?"

 _Straight to the point then._ "Vehn Terev. Name ring any bells?"

"What's he to you? And don't lie to me."

 _She really thinks I'm that stupid?_ "I'll skip the stories then. He's our key into the kett flagship that I'll be infiltrating."

She shifted slightly in her seat. "Kadara is an Angaran port. They want Vehn dead and I want to make them happy," Kelly stated slowly.

"This is bigger than their wants," I glared.

"You don't need Vehn-you need his intel. Talk to him before I put his head on a spike."

My eyes narrowed into slits. _Agreeing would upset the Resistance and I don't need that with my newly formed alliance._ I shook my head while sighing in defeat, "No can do. The Resistance wants to torture him themselves and I have to ensure that they're happy or else things go south between our species."

Kelly didn't seem to care as she leaned backwards into her throne. "I don't have time for this political shit. Dismissed," She commanded with a mock salute.

I bowed sarcastically, "Your highness." I waltzed out of the room, seemingly calm and uncaring at my denial. Once outside I clenched my fists, teeth clenched together painfully. _That could have gone better._ I took some calming breaths, forcing the emotions to subside. Destroying the port because I was pissed off won't help my case.

"Have a nice chat?", Asked Reyes sidling beside me. _Too close, pal._

I moved away. "I think she liked me," I commented, anger seeping through.

He chuckled and moved closer to me again. "Don't worry I found a work around."

"Plenty of strings attached right?"

"Not any new ones. Remember, Evfra wants Vehn alive, so when you get inside give him this," He slipped a tiny device into my hand, "That'll eat through whatever Sloane's holding him in and it can't be traced back to us. A Resistance agent will be waiting to pick Vehn up."

Better be worth it," I growled.

"You'll be the judge of that, not me," I pointed to a side alley, "There's a maintenance shaft around that corner. Sending the access code to your omni-tool… That'll get you inside."

"You still owe me a drink from earlier," _Maybe something for Jaal and I? Or repayment for stealing his alcohol..._ "Maybe some angaran Alcohol?"

"Angaran? I thought something more human for the both of us," He purred a little, getting closer to me. _Too damn close._

I held my stance and glared at him. "No, it's not. It's for someone else."

Reyes chuckled, now completely in my personal bubble. "I'm sure I could replace that… someone else."

"Piss off or I'll put your head on the spike I saw earlier," I spoke, voice dripping with acid.

"Now, now, let's not get too hasty," He said hand now on my arm, "I'll show you to the shaft as means of friendship."

I ripped my arm away. "I'll show myself to the shaft. Now excuse me." _Eunuch._

He held his arms up in surrender and backed away. I continued to glare menacingly at him as I walked to the nav-point he provided.

* * *

Reyes seemed to be essential to setting up a colony on Kadara so I had to put all my earlier emotions about him in the back of my mind. However, I did my best to spite, humiliate, and embarrass him at every turn of the way. None of my teammates seemed very fond of him either, which was pleasant. I would only deal with him up to us leaving Kadara, which would hopefully be sooner rather than later.

Another annoying aspect about the man was that he continuously flirted with me. Thank goodness Jaal wasn't there for those conversations or else he would have launched Reyes off a cliff. The only people who heard those lewd comments were Drack and Peebee who, in turn, swore to maim and torture the man to death once he was alone with them. _Oh, how I love my Tempest family._

My train of thought was intercepted by the thickly accented voice of Reyes. _Please bugger off you eunuch. No one wants someone without scars or balls, both of which my Darling One has. "_ I've got intel on our dead guy. Krogan male. Went by the name Zaer. His frontal plate was pried off before he was shot to death," Reyes said grimly.

"They tortured him before he died. Sadistic jerks," I responded, looking down at the puddle of blood by my shoes.

"Not one of my men," Drack interjected.

"Do your scanning thing. Look for anything that might lead us to the killer."

I thought about it for a moment. "What if you were the killer?"

He seemed to laugh at that. "I didn't know my devilishly good looks are enough to kill," Reyes responded a slight purr in his voice. My eyes narrowed and I bit down on my tongue. _Don't tell him you want to pry out his eyeballs. Don't tell him to go back to the hole he crawled out of. Don't blow up the whole planet with him and every other despicable person on it._ I activated my scanner and went over to some bloodied footsteps that led out of the door to the balcony.

"These footprints are distinctly angaran," informed SAM.

"Three pairs. They ambushed the poor sod. Maybe the Roekaar? Maybe not."

"It's a start," came Reyes' voice again. I looked over the room again and scanned a bloodied frying pan, the body, the blood, and a bottle of alcohol. I searched through a data pad and walked outside to see a dagger lying on a container just outside the door. Blood was on the blade and if I were correct it was an angaran dagger.

"Must have dropped it, or it's a trap. Either one leads us to the killer," I said outloud. I picked up the blade, "Somethings carved into it..."

"It's Shelesh, the angaran trade language. 'A home filled with strangers becomes a prison'", SAM informed me.

"So, most definitively Roekaar and their ilk. Great," I sighed slightly. The day's events were slowly starting to gain on me.

"Let's go pay our local Roekaar a visit," stated Reyes.

 _He's too nonchalant about this. You don't just waltz into a Roekaar base-unless you're me. But I have more balls than Reyes, he would let someone else do the fighting. Reyes is a schemer. This is a trap._

"It's a trap then. You're leading us into a trap," I stated rather simply.

"I wouldn't purposely lead you into a trap!", Reyes protested.

"Don't lie to me, Reyes!", I commanded into the comm, "I am no fool! Trying to throw me into a trap blindly is not how it works unless you want yourself strung up on a flagpole by your underwear!"

He seemed to go silent at that. _Thank goodness._

Reyes sighed. "The plan is that you go in, distract the Roekaar with your presence while I set up some explosives before hand. If things go well we will all be fine."

I grunted slightly. The plan was far from fool-proof, but it would work for now.

* * *

I walked into the small building that led into the cave. _Act one: Ryder stands bewildered, noticing her compatriot, Reyes Vidal, is in fact missing._

"Where is Reyes?", I questioned.

"I detect no sign of Mr. Vidal, Pathfinder," SAM replied, playing along with the scheme. "Shall we proceed without him?"

"That's not-"

I was interrupted mid sentence by the door opening and three Roekaar walking in to point guns at us. I raised my hands in the air as a sign of surrender.

"Too loud?", I questioned. A smile was trying to erupt onto my face, but I refused to let it.

"Shut up! Farah will deal with you," The leading Roekaar in red said. They quickly led us down a ramp further into the mines, guns continuously aimed at our backs. I looked to the side to see a group of Angara practicing their combat training on the land beneath us. We went down another ramp onto the dirt floor and met up with a blue and green angara wearing black and yellow.

"I don't need to tell you what will happen next," She said. _Must be this 'Farah' they were talking about._

"I can guess as much, but we can always talk this through. I've never been really good with knives or needles or sharp objects in general," I responded a bit nonchalantly, placing myself further ahead of the team.

"We don't talk with outsiders," Farah bit out, coming closer to me. We were practically touching noses when I felt the blade of a dagger rest on my cheek.

"You'll bleed. Just like the others," She smiled wickedly, cutting my cheek slightly with the blade. I didn't back away.

"You murdered innocent people," I said, casting her a cold stare.

"Invaders and sympathizers are not innocent. I will protect my home," Farah reponded. Her eyes boring into me. Blade cutting further into the flesh.

"You are letting your hate control you. You must think of other prospects. Our societies-our people-can coexist."

"Like here on Kadara?", Farah scoffed. "Sloane lies to my people and uses them for power."

"I am not Sloane," I stated. "She would have killed Akksul given the chance. I didn't." _No matter how annoying and dangerous the man is. No matter the fact that he nearly killed my Darling One._

"I don't care!", She growled at me. Drawing her blade away as if to stab me in the chest. I heard a gun fire and Farah grunted in pain as the blade flew out of her hand.

"Tad bit late, Reyes."

"Don't worry. I had some fireworks set up for our romantic date," He smiled. I growled lowly.

Farah began to walk back towards some crates further into the mines. "Don't just stand there! Kill them!"

Then an explosion was all that was left of the poor woman and some of her allies.

"Still mad?", Reyes questioned as I quickly grabbed onto my shotgun. I launched myself into a Sharpshooter that was behind cover. His shields were knocked out and I used the opportunity to slam my krogan hammer into his skull. Reyes, Peebee, and Drack took care of the other two.

Once the area was cleared we walked up the ramp into the small room we first entered into. I went to get out of the mine, but Reyes stopped me. "The streets of Kadara are safe again. You did good, Sara," I glared at him for using my first name. "Don't worry, I'll let all the important people know who to thank."

"That was a terrible excuse for fireworks. I know someone who can do ten times better than that pathetic excuse," I commented. Peebee chuckled behind me, gently nudging my shoulders with her hands. I felt myself blush a little as Peebee continued to tease me silently.

"It was fireworks, was it not? Admit it, some of that was fun."

"Some of it," I relinquished.

"I knew it. You do like me."

"I said some of it. You aren't part of that 'some'," I ended coldly. Drack chuckled from behind me. I led us out of the caves, leaving Reyes in his stupor.

As I exited the door I heard Reyes mumble something. Don't know what he said, but a shiver crawled up my spine. _What was he planning?_

* * *

 _I don't want to be here. Why did I say yes? I don't want to be here._ I felt the music being pounded into my skull as I stood off in a corner. Kelly was talking to Kaetus by her thrown and, judging by the purrs coming from the turian, they were flirting. Reyes had left me some time ago and I was beginning to think he was jumped. I instantly felt my mood sour. _They didn't invite me to beat the man to a pulp?_ I felt the small portion of alcohol in my system take control and I was going out into the hallway.

"Reyes, where the hell are you?", I asked into the comm.

"No answer, but I believe he headed to one of the side rooms when we arrived, Pathfinder," SAM answered in his place.

I smiled. _Most definitely beaten to a pulp._ I jogged into the hallway and towards a door leading into a side room. "Let's see if he's still alive."

"Damn it. Why can't the serial numbers be in the same spot?", I heard his heavily accented voice reverberate against the walls. I spotted Reyes behind some crates near the back of the closet.

"Boo. You're not bleeding on the floor," I mumbled.

"Ryder!", He yelped in surprise. "I-it's not what it looks like!"

"Really? I mean, it's not like I found you having sex with my husband or anything," I replied nonchalantly. Then my voice took on a meaner edge, "No, you're using me as a distraction so that you can take away Kelly's cache!"

He seemed at a loss of words for a moment. "Okay, yes. But it's for both of our benefits I promise," He sighed in defeat.

"You've been making a lot of promi-"

"Shit!", Reyes interrupted. "Someone's coming! We need a distraction!"

I smiled wickedly and brought my fist into his stomach. Reyes instantly doubled over in a coughing fit. A female guard walked into the room and I leaned casually on the crate.

"Friend had a bit too much to drink."

She looked at us for a second, grabbed some bottles of alcohol, and left us.

"It worked, you can stop coughing now you baby," I snorted. Reyes slowly stood up straight.

"Next time, I come up with the plan," He simply stated, still a bit out of breathe. Once he regained a normal flow of oxygen in and out of his chest, Reyes jumped onto the shelves and reached into the uppermost compartment.

"Finally. Here it is," He smiled, jumping down from his perch. In his hand was a bottle of… Alcohol. _Great._

"This was all for whiskey?"

"The only bottle of Mount Milgrom in Andromeda. Triple-distilled and 645 years old. This isn't whiskey-it's treasure."

I smiled a little. "Sharing is required."

"We'll see… Let's get out of here."

* * *

I took a swig of the drink, looking at the horizon. _If only Jaal could see this._ I smiled inwardly at the thought.

"Gorgeous, isn't it? I sometimes forget," stated Reyes wistfully. "Is Andromeda everything you hoped for it to be?"

I looked at the bottle for a moment and took another drink. "I would be lying if I said I thought it would be what it is."

I held onto the bottle, Reyes not grabbing for it at all. "What about you? Why did you come here, Reyes?"

He remained silent for a moment. "To be someone."

"Honesty is the best policy. So, I'll just say that you are someone to me at least," I responded simply. Shifting my body so that we sat side by side. _Something is wrong. Something is terribly… right._ I felt the edges of my vision blur as the drink seemed to affect me. I felt Reyes' arms circle around my waist and I made to push him off, but my arms were… heavy like they were filled with lead and my own body was going towards him in some faked love. A small part of me wanted to scream, but nothing happened. The other part, the one effected by what Reyes did to the drink, wanted me to cuddle into his chest. I felt Reyes take me up in his arms, the world becoming streaks of beautiful and terrifying color around me as he went down into an alley way. Nothing was in the length of street and it ended abruptly, the bustling crowd outside the entrance. _Help me. Take me._ _SAM? Reyes. Anyone? Reyes. Please. No. Help me. Love me. Jaal? Jaal?_ Tears came out of my eyes of either joy or terror as Reyes placed me on a crate, then wrapped his fingers into my hair. I felt him kiss me like an animal, a monster, a loving person. Something straight out of a nightmare or a dream. _Help me!_ I felt him roughly pull me head back as kisses were sent down my neck causing me to emit a moan that I didn't want. _Why? Why? Why? Leave me! Jaal! Jaal! JAAL!_

I felt Reyes nibble on my ear. Then his whisper tickled my ear, "You're mine now."

I felt like screaming as no one came to help me.

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **Thanks for reading/favoriting/following/reviewing!**

 **gofeer: Here is the more.**

 **Yeah... Don't know what to say to this. Maybe you guys will have some input on this?**

 **-MeanE**


	12. The Bloody Princess

Punch. Kick. Smack.

The rage fueled me. The terror enlightened me. The memories haunted me.

I continued to beat the punching-bag in my room. Sweat and tears mingling together. Memories flashed behind my eyes.

* * *

I lay there. Broken in the dark alley way. Nothing mattered. My clothing was haphazardly thrown back on me, tears had stained my cheeks. Several bruises were forming on my body. _Jaal. Jaal. Jaal._ The image of him turning his back on me. Accepting what Reyes said so easily.I curled into a ball on the cold ground. _End this. End it._ I uncoiled myself. I had to leave. I had to leave. I shakily stood up onto my feet, putting my clothes back on a bit more properly. Pain coming from all across my body. _Why? Why? Why?_

I slowly stepped out of the alleyway and into the now deserted street. I began to walk faster and faster towards the _Tempest_. I needed safety, sanctuary, something. I traversed over the bridge extending across to the platform that the ship sat on and up into the _Nomad_ bay.

* * *

I remember it all. Burned into my mind. A scar I won't forget. More thuds as my limbs slam viciously into the leather. _Reyes._

First-punch-he hurts Kaetus just to see how Sloane would react to her best friend, second-in-command, and perhaps lover getting beaten to a pulp. The turian helped Sloane keep a cool head on and Reyes the back stabbing son of a bitch decided to nearly kill the man.

Second-kick, slam-he drugs me and fucking rapes me. I can't even have Jaal hold me without seeing Reyes, without flinching in fear or discomfort.

* * *

I quickly found Jaal's room. I knocked gently on the door, feeling myself begin to crumble. The door opened and I walked into the room. Jaal stood there a smile planted on his face. _I can't tell him. I can't. I don't want to see that smile disappear. I have to be strong. For him._

I felt like crying, but smiled back at him. He walked towards me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I flinched slightly, but he didn't seem to notice. _He is not Reyes. His arms are warm, not cold. His face is narrow, not rounded. He loves you, not lusts for you._ The chant repeated in my head again and again, trying to calm my nerves down. Jaal looked deep into my eyes for a moment, his brows furrowed. I feigned curiosity, trying to hide the fear that now consumed me. He frowned and my heart stumbled.

"Is something wrong Darling One?", he asked in worry.

I tensed up slightly, but forced myself to relax in his arms.

"No. Nothing Jaal."

* * *

I hit the bag again, again, again. Then smiled wickedly. _He shouldn't have messed with me. He should not have done what he did. If he didn't do that..._

I cackled maniacally as I beat the thing over and over. Fists beginning to ache, but I kept going. _I've gone completely mad! Insane! Bonkers! Off my rocker!_ I stopped for a moment. _If only he hadn't done that._

* * *

The cave was dark and I felt only the eyes of Sloane and her team eyeing my back. My ground team didn't need to see this so I didn't bring them. I didn't know what I was going to do and I didn't want to put them in danger. Not when I faced an unknown enemy. The Charla-fucking-tan.

I saw a terrifyingly familiar figure emerge from the shadows above us. _Death. Kill. Murder. Drug. Maim. Evil. Wicked. Reyes._

"Ah, my property has been returned to me. Isn't that right, princess? You know you're mine now, right?" _Princess. He is trying to taunt me. Calling me that. Trying to bring up the horrifying past._ My biotics flared and Sloane growled from beside me. We shared similar feelings.

"Why did you do it?" I spoke out in a harsh voice. My gun was gripped tightly in my hand.

He smiled slyly, "I wanted something no one else could get. You." Reyes jumped down from his perched and walked towards us. "I get what I want, princess, and if I couldn't have you... No one could."

"There's a sniper-"

I ignored the rest of SAM's sentence and dove at Sloane. Forcing both of us to the ground as the bullet flew above our heads.

Fighting errupted and I quickly rose up and chased after Reyes. _Sloane and her guys can take care of a few mercenaries._ He was running, but I was faster. Desperation, rage, adrenaline, and biotics pushed me forward, faster and faster. I launched myself into the fleeing man. _The coward._

Reyes shouted in surprise when I slammed him into the ground. He rolled onto his back and I pinned him down with my foot. Fear shone in his eyes and I relished in it. Reyes' mouth pulled into a force, flirtatious smile. _Annoying the first times. Now it is a death wish._ "Hey now, we can work this out," He tried to taslk his way out, a shiny film now covered his face. _Is he sweating? Ha!_

My eyes narrowed and he widened the smile nervously. "Work this out? We didn't exactly work this out before. No, no, no. You took what you wanted. You took me!" I paused a grisly smile stretching across my face. "Now, I'll take what I want."

His eyes widened in horror as the barrel of my shot gun was pointed towards his lower body. I fired and he screamed in pain. _No one will stop me now. It's only me, Sloane, and her back up._ I fired again and he let loose another scream. "Now, let's see about that pretty face of yours."

* * *

I paused in my assault, fist hovering over the punching-bag. I could feel the blood dripping off of my hand. The blood. Not mine. Reyes. I looked down and saw his beaten face. His chest had stopped rising a long time ago. A very long time ago, but I kept on beating him. I remember getting up and spitting on his corpse. I shivered slightly and brought my hands down.

"SAM? Why couldn't you help me when Reyes did... what he did?"

"I couldn't see or hear what was happening, Ryder. My connection was scrambled, similar to what happened while examining Spender's apartment on the Nexus."

I knew I had asked that question before. I knew it was the same answer. I just wished SAM could've helped. Could've told someone, but he couldn't. We didn't know if the scrambler was planned or not. A scrambler was something on the black market and was expected in Kadara so when his connection was scrambled he didn't do anything because it was natural and bound to happen in that hell hole.

I shook my head and colapsed on the bed. I won't be the same. No matter how hard I will try. I won't be the same. I sent a silent prayer to the stars. _Please. Help me. I don't want to lose him because of this._

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **You're questions about most things are answered. You got Reyes' motive, what happened to my poor, poor Sara, and why no one helped her. Sorry for my delay in updating. The writing system (I think that's what it's called) decided not to work on the day I really needed it so I spent 2 hours trying to get it working while doing other things. Doesn't matter as of now so thank you all for the reviews, views, follows, and favorites. It was really interesting, shocking, and a little funny to see four new reviews in a day.**

 **The Unpredictable Muse: This is good enough right? Right? Personally I always thought that Reyes was an untrustful, slimeball and I absolutely abhorred him. I thought Sloane was cooler with her kick-butt attitude (albeit I always disliked her very Vladamir style with the spikes and all that jazz).**

 **Morbicity: Yeah... sorry. The original, original had Jaal getting pissed at Reyes for flirting with Sara and Reyes backing off... buuuuut I decided they didn't have enough conflicts so I sorta threw that in. Another thing, I have reason to believe Drack was in a bar fight and/or drunk at the time so he wouldn't be very much help.**

 **gofeer: As previously stated, I don't like Reyes. He was always a bad apple to me. Plus it's nice to know you enjoy the story so far! :D**

 **This Is Sarcasm: Yep, I know. Don't know how you fun loving people would react to this twist though (it was hard because I considered changing out one of the genres because of this scene, but decided not to).**


	13. Rae of Hope

I ignored the worried looks of Lexi as I walked out of her medic bay. _Why the hell did SAM have to give her a full report as to what happened? Is privacy nonexistent here?_ I growled and marched up to the cockpit with a displeased look on my face.

 _'Sara, you can't keep on doing this to yourself! Don't pent up all your anger and sadness or it will hurt you! I need to keep you and this crew healthy and not talking to me about these... serious matters doesn't help anyone.' Lexi._

I growled silently and balled my hands into fists. _I'm fine! Why won't they believe I'm fine?_ My eyes turned to the stars that were now sprinkled in front of a black, blue, and purple canvas. A white beacon of hope stood in front of them, it's rays being cut short by a lumpy, green being that shackled the two entities together. It was the kett flagship anchored to a Milky Way Ark. Arc Paarchero.

"Kallo, Suvi, pull up to the Paarchero and get us a way on. We need a way to get the Salarians out of there."

"Affirmative, Pathfinder"

"Thanks," I turned away from them and walked into the room just outside the airlock. "SAM, can you tell Drack and Jaal they are coming with me. Double time?"

"It's complete."

"Thank you."

I put on my under armor before the Drack got into the room. I quirked my eyebrow at him. _Jaal is usually the first to come in. Where is he?_ Drack ignored my look and took out his weapons from the locker. My face scrunched together for a moment before a sigh escaped my lips and I began to put on the rest of my armor.

Armor now covering my arms, I bent down to my legs and began strapping some stolen kett shin guards onto my legs. I heard a hissing as the door behind me opened and Jaal moved into the room. He stopped and peered down at me with an odd expression on his face.

I smiled between my legs at him, hair flopping lasily over my head. "Liking the view?"

He seemed to sputter for a few moments before looking away. I laughed, "Hey, hey. I know my butt is pretty good. No need to be shy about it."

Jaal stood there for a moment before he decided to grab his kett sniper rifle and I followed after him once all my armor was properly adjusted. His eyes were filled with... confusion? Maybe sorrow or something else I was unsure about.

"Jaal? Is something wrong?" I asked with my nails scratching my neck.

He looked at me for a moment before smiling softly, sadly. "No, it's just... ah... homesickness."

I returned a soft look to him. "I know how it feels sometimes."

Jaal nodded in return, still lost in thought. I stared at his vacant expression. _Is it really homesickness though?_ With that final thought, we walked into the Paarchero.

"Tempest we're in," I spoke quietly.

"So far no activity from the kett ship," Kallo returned.

"Let's hope it stays that way."

"Pathfinder," SAM interrupted, "If you access a terminal I can assess the situation."

I manuevered around the several seats and stray wires that littered the floor. I made my way to a large screen that stood at the head of the room broadcasting the worlds of Andromeda. _Our crushed hopes._

"Accessing Ark Paarchero's internal systems." A trio of Salarians appeared on screen in initiative armor. "A moment, additional data encryptions have been added."

"That's not supposed to be there. Maybe the Salarians did it, they seem crafty enough," I wondered aloud.

"You are correct. It's a cryptology key assosciated with their intelligence services. I have unlocked it."

The Salarians disappeared, "Mission status?"

"At present, Ark Paarchero has arrived in the Heleus Cluster. Location of Nexus unknown," echoed a salarian voice.

The screen flashed black with a red triangle encasing an exclamation mark flashing in the center. A new salarian voice spoke, "This is Captain Hayjer of Ark Paarchero, if you are recieving this message hostile aliens have captured our ship. Please look for our Pathfinder Zevin Raeka. Situation urgent."

The screen returned to its blue hues as if nothing had happened. I frowned in distaste. _They thought this message would be decrypted so they didn't put the Pathfinder's pod or location or anything really. Not helpful._

Drack spoke up, "We need to find this Pathfinder Pyjak."

"Overriding bulkhead door," SAM stated. I want to the door SAM spoke of and opened it using the console. A long hallway filled with cryo-pods, kett tech, and an eerie silence greeted us. I quickly scanned the area.

"How's it look SAM?"

"Some kett infrastructure has been added, but the systems are operational."

"Fight or flight ready?"

"Yes."

I jumped over an obstruction. "Ryder, are you thinking of...?" Jaal's voice called from behind me.

"If I can take the whole ark everyone gets out alive for the most part."

"That's... both brave and insane."

"Insane is doing nothing. I'm just brave," I winked back at him.

"No bodies. No signs of a fight," Drack commented. _Odd, but true. It's like they... gave up._

"Let's hope the Pathfinder can make sense of this," I responded while waving the group forward.

We entered into the medical floor and found the dead bodies that were missing from the rest of the ship. _Poor sods._ I scanned every body and walked over to a console in order to confirm which one Raeka is.

"What do they say about the salarian that we scanned first?"

"He is identified as Pathfinder Raeka."

"Cause of death?"

"A brain euthanasia while in stasis. However Initiative records indicate Pathfinder Raeka is female. This patient is male."

"So our little Rae of hope is alive still? Great. Who is this guy?"

"I have his DNA sequence from the scan. Locate a sequencer to confirm his identity."

I walked to the "Sequencer" and unlocked the console for SAM. "The DNA of the deceased salarian matches colonist 'Jeks Arlan'."

I smiled widely, thoughts spinning and whirring before I came to a conclusion. I sprinted to the hall of stasis pods while laughing in victory. "They must have switched stasis pods last minute! Perfect! Just absolutely brilliant!" My scanner traced over each and every pod until I finally reached what was to be Arlan's pod.

"This is the deceased salarian's pod yet I detect a female inside."

With that confirmation I accessed the controls and brought our little Rae down from her perch. We opened the pod back in the clinic and laid her on one of the cold metal tables. She was a pale white color with orange markings outlining her face. Truly a ray of sunshine with that kind of colors on her. Rae's eyes opened as she instantly sat up.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down there Rae," I said, placing my hands gently on her shoulders.

"No need," She replied quickly, "I'm fine. Salarians recovery is almost immediate. Who are you?"

"Sara Ryder, Pathfinder for the human ark, and aspiring space pirate," I smirked.

Rae smiled slightly then frowned. "Where's Alec?"

I felt my heart drop at the mention of my father. My smile faded and Jaal placed his hand on my shoulder in a way to comfort me. "He... ah, didn't make it."

Raeka bowed her head then got off the bed. "This is madness. Stasis was a mistake. I should have never agreed to it." She walked across the room to a console and began tapping on it.

"What're you doing?" I asked curiously.

"Seeing what I've woken up to," Rae replied. "A hostile species-an armada-set upon us. Our captain saw no choice but surrender. Said we'd live to fight another day. He convinced me to hide in the general population and to dismantle my SAM so we wouldn't fall into enemy hands. But we're still in their grasps, I see."

"Not for long," Drack responded.

"My team and I are heading into the kett vessel to gather intelligence. You'll be our little Rae of hope so wake up a flight crew and get ready for an escape on my signal," I commanded.

"That'll be no trouble," Rae answered. "And then I'll focus on freeing the ark so you can focus on your objective."

"Do whatever the hell you can, but silence is key. The only way they'll find us is if we all start singing the Russian National Anthem."

Rae smiled again at my joke and began nodding. "Yes, yes. Of course."

"I'll key you into our comms. We'll stay in touch," I spoke, connecting Rae's comm with ours.

"Hello Pathfinder Raeka," greeted SAM.

Rae visibly relaxed with SAM's greeting. "Ah, a SAM in my head again. I'm back in the game," Rae turned towards me with determination shining brightly in her eyes. "We'll be ready Ryder."

* * *

We walked through darkness with only the lights in our helmets helping illuminate the way. "Tempest, making our way to the kett ship through the wire," I informed the people currently on our comm.

"So far there is no indications they're aware of your presence. Good luck pathfinder, " Kallo replied.

We continued with only the thudding of our boots breaking the tense silence. Jaal is still being uncharacteristically silent. I walked towards a amber flashing light at the very end of the darkness. We walked a bit faster until I was standing in front of the blinking digit. I pressed on the button and a door opened into a decontamination room. The door on the opposite side opened and we walked out into another bigger room.

"Quick and quiet. They won't see us coming-"

A heavy roared loudly in front of us.

"Never mind! Take cover!"

* * *

I took off my helmet and wiped sweat off my brow. A kett ran out of the hall we were into another room. I ignored it and walked to the pods lining the walls, quickly attaching my helmet to my side. Scanner now out I took a fast scan of the objects in the room.

"It's empty. This pod belonged to Yosz Enrix. A member of the salarian leadership," SAM's voice echoed in my head.

"Still missing a lot of pods. Where are the rest of the salarians?" Drack asked. I could hear his brows furrowing. _That is the true question that won't be answered until much, much later._ I felt my own frustration and anger was beginning to catch up on me. _Just like: W_ _hy did he take the Salarians? To exalt them? Its Sick, disgusting. Why can't Archon just bloody piss off?_

 _We_ walked past the pods and through the door. The next room was massive. a giant window looking out to the Paarchero. A hard green wall was on the other side. No living thing was there only small caches of ammo littered the ground. _Too quiet. All the other rooms hand something. This is... nothing._

"Be on your guard. I don't like this," I whispered to my team.

"Those look like guns out there," Drack observed while looking out the window.

"Confirmed," SAM replied. "The offensive armaments of a highly capable warship."

"All pointed at the Arc. Great!" I huffed throwing my hands in the air then taking a few calming breathes.

"Your route continues on the far side of the room," SAM finally said once I was calmer.

I followed the AI's directions to the door. Once at it the lock turned red. _Are you fucking kidding me?_ "SAM. It's. Locked," I gritted out between my teeth.

"No way was that an accident," Drack growled out. "Look sharp."

Kett appeared from above on the balconies and began firing at us.

"Crap! It's an ambush!" I yelled after diving into cover. My biotics shot out at a heavy and I fired my shot gun.

"They've locked us in!" Drack yelled over the gun fire and biotic flares.

"Then we fight our way out!" I roared killing a kett that was instant replaced by two others.

"Ryder, we're in deep shit here!" Jaal called, ending his spell of silence.

"Can't hold back much longer!" Drack added from above, ramming a kett off the balcony. I slammed my krogan hammer into a Destined making it fly across the room.

"Ryder! We're here! We've got your back!" a new voice called from above us, Rae. I smiled brightly at her and then charged at a kett grunt.

"It's our Rae of sunshine again! Welcome to the party!" I returned.

"We'll provide over watch!" Rae turned to her team of Salarians, "Take them out!"

I shot down another destined, ramming myself into a chosen, then hitting his companions with a my hammer.

"Captain Hayger, we need suppressing fire at your eleven o'clock!" Rae commanded.

"I'm on it!" Hayger responded.

Jaal shot down a kett trying to take me out from behind and I gave him a smile.

"Not a bad shot for a history teacher!"

Drack took the shields off a heavy giving Jaal and I the opportunity to take a shot at it.

"Ryder we need to pull out! We've got some wounded!"

Well that was quick. "Go! We can take it. You saved our butts!" I ducked behind cover and fired at another brute. Drack shot down a destined with his Ruzad shotgun while Jaal used a swarm of VI on another. I looked up towards the balcony and saw a Prefect emerge from the smoke.

"Prefect! Jaal your on my six, Drack my three! Make sure nothing interrupts my attacks on it!"

They shouted confirmations and I trained my shotgun to the orb floating around the kett. _Die already!_ The shield was down and I pounced onto the Prefect using my biotics. I punched it with a biotic infused fist. After a couple of blows it kicked me off and I was effectively sent flying off the balcony. I crashed into another kett, effectively bruising a whole chunk of my back in the process. I winced in pain as I was pulled up by Jaal.

"Bloody hell that hurts!" I yelped.

Then Drack had taken down the Prefect while Jaal and I had shot down all the kett trying to close in on us.

"That's the last one," Drack said triumphantly.

"That was too close for comfort. If our little Rae hadn't come by we would be screwed over," I commented.

"I suppose we owe them one," Drack retorted.

"I have found a new path to the Archon's chambers," SAM said in his usual nonchalatans.

I nodded and followed the nav-point he provide to the balcony and through a door. This place is really starting to look the same room after room. _I feel like I'm going crazy or something with the lack of differences._ Once in another hallway, I jogged across it to the next room, passing little seating areas. The room I stood in was green with an orange sort of glass separating the room I was in from the one next to it and on the opposite side of the glass stood Rae and her team, each face grim and down turned.

"Rae, what happened?" I questioned.

"Sedin's wounds were fatal."

"I'm... sorry. He was brave to have come this far." _Who's Sendin?_

"I can't access this terminal," A salarian from behind Rae grumbled, Hayjer probably. "It's not working."

"Can SAM open the door for us?" Rae asked, moving past the hurt and getting straight to buisness.

"Yeah," I replied, tapping on the console that connected to Rae's door.

SAM took this as his time to shine and spoke, "A moment while I override security."

"So, Rae. You saw those guns back there right? That's going to be a BIG problem."

"I know. They'll destroy the Arc before we can power up engines. Unless..."

"I can feel a plan brewing," I smiled back.

She turned to another salarian. "Venro here used to repair FTL drives on private cruisers. Venro-an EMP device?"

"It might work," Venro responded. "If we rig one to detonate near those guns they'd lose power."

"And the Arc will be out of harms way."

"And the missing people?" I questioned.

"I'll keep looking. Captain Hayjer and Venro will focus on the EMP."

"Be careful," I paused. "Especially you Rae. Drack and I need to get a round with you rather than for you. Goodluck."

"The door is now opened," SAM informed and I quickly turned away to continue our mission.

* * *

We had found the pods. All empty. There were scientists that fled from our grasps while we killed and maimed their guards. Our route had already been changed once and I was not pleased at how long this mission was becoming. I walked into another long lab room, fingers itching for something to shoot.

"Ryder," SAM began. "Caution-"

Then we were floating. I enjoyed floating with my biotics, but this was different. It felt like several tinny hands with slime covering each one was holding me up. It was discomforting, it was a terrible reminder of something I didn't want to remember. Of someone I didn't want to remember. I shivered viciously.

I tried to move my arms, legs, body, but nothing moved beside my head. It was a struggle to do anything and I hated the feeling. I hated it. "It's a stasis field," I spoke with a voice too calm to be my own. _This is feeling like deja vu. Bad situation. Bad everything. But you can't move. Can't do anything, but try to remain calm. Try to sound calm._

"It's useless to struggle." _You son of a-_ "I've been in this forsaken cluster for decades surrounded by amoeba."

 _It was the bloody, fucking Archon._ He walked around me, sending a glare at Jaal. _Come closer you son of a gun and I'll show you amoeba! I will fucking show you! You will die by my hands! Killed! Murdered! You are the one reminding me of this! Of these slimy hands! You will pay!_

 _"_ Then you arrive-a human. Able to do the unthinkable. You even evaded me," He was so close. literally nose to nose with me. "Such an unlikely rival. It was almost invigorating to have one. And yet it is a fitting end."

I sneered at him. "You gonna cry now? Need some tissues for those issues you son of-" His hand clamped down around my throat.

"Hey! Try that with me!" yelled Drack from behind me.

"Let her go," Jaal growled in a dangerously low voice. The Archon's lips tilted slightly at Jaal's insult, mocking him.

The Archon moved his hand to clamp painfully on my chin. He turned my head left and right before settling in the forward position. I felt something stab into my neck and I grit my teeth to keep the noise of pain and surprise from flowing past my lips. Something was being taken. I could feel it. Blood?

"A first sample. Your testing begins now. I will learn your secret soon enough," He paused, looking into the air. "Report. Await my arrival."

He turned back to me, slowly getting closer and closer and closer. My mind began conflicting with itself. Self preservation screaming at me. _No. No. No. Not again. Not closer! Don't get closer! Get away!_ While a crazed murderous intent fought back as well. _Kill him! Murder! Die! You will pay!_ I tried to move my body away differing emotions beginning to flood my systems in a terrible combination of hysteria and insanity.

"Saved your strength, human."

I spat in his face. _Why did you do that? Why? Why? Why? It's going to happen again!_ He rubbed the spit off and back handed me before walking out of the room.

 _Gone. He's gone._ I felt myself stop at the revelation. The differing emotions going back into a deep, dark recess in my mind.

"Raeka's in trouble," Jaal called, a calm mask over what should be anger.

I remained silent for a moment. "We have her beat. SAM, what can you tell me?"

"I'm sensing a biological transmitter in your bloodstream now. Attempting to neutralize it."

"I don't care! That is in the future. We need to get to Rae now! To do that we have to get free, SAM! Give me ideas!"

"The containment field only interacts with living matter. If you expire, the field around you will extinguish until manual reset. As you know, my access to your psychology allows me to enhance your vital signs when required. I can also do the opposite."

I paused. _Oh. Shit._

"Is there any other option?"

"If there was I would have recommended it first. After stopping your heart I will attempt to resuscitate, of course."

I swallowed down a large lump of fear. _Dying once is bad enough, but twice? What If I dont get up? I shook my head. Being trapped in this bloody stasis field feeling His hands on me is bad too. Getting Archon to experiment on me, on Drack, on every people imaginable, on Jaal is worse. Jaal will be hurt. Jaal will never know what he needs to know._ A sick image of Jaal being transformed into a kett rose and I felt like throwing up. _I have to do this. If not for everyone then for him._

 _"_ Let's do this."

"You better come back," Drack said with concern lining his voice.

I looked to Jaal out of the corner of my eye. He remained silent and wouldn't look me in the eye. I couldn't read his emotions well enough to know what he was thinking, but his silence still hurt.

"Stopping your heart," SAM paused. "Now."

I heard someone distantly call my name and a phantom feeling of me hitting the floor. Nothing happened, nothing was there. Then memories of all I lost came flooding in. Dad, Mom, my baby brother Scott. Earth, a home. My sanctity, my privacy, my skin, my blood, my injuries, my pains, my desires, my nightmares. Then Andromeda, SAM, the tempest, my team, Jaal. Each one passed by at lightning speed. Then it was over and I was back in reality.

Gasping I got up off the ground. Panic took over my body for a moment, shaking in fear at what just happened. Then I let my fear get buried beneath my duty. _I have a job to do and people to save. Insanity and fear can wait while I do my job._

"That's twice. Two times dead. I still fucking hate it," I grumbled with a slight shake within my body. I turned towards Jaal and Drack. "Well, don't you two look comfortable," I smirked weakly.

"Down. Now," growled Drack. I held my hands in surrender and went to the console, releasing them from the stasis.

"There is a maintenance corridor connecting to this room," SAM supplied.

"Where there is a will. There is a way," I mumbled.

My scanner flashed across the room, but a yell of kett from over, what I assume to be, a speaker interrupted me. "Step away from there," commanded Rae's voice from above. Another kett yell and gunfire.

"Archon? Do you hear me? Now you have two Pathfinders to deal with and we're not impressed with your security!" More gunshots followed. I smiled widely. So she does have a decent sense of humor.

I tapped my comm online. "Rae what's going on?"

"A little diversion! Captain Hayjer and Venro need time to set the EMP! I'll be in touch!"

Drack spoke up, "Are we sure she isn't part Krogan?"

I laughed.

* * *

I've decided. This kett ship is an absolute hell hole. Salarians were experimented on, the Moshae tortured, a data base with information all about the Milky Way spieces and how useful they would be as kett, and, to top it all off, a krogan turned kett. Unfortunately, it packs a hell of a punch.

I flew across the room and softened my fall with biotics then quickly jumping back onto my feet. The hybrid was quitting as it rammed into me, knocking the wind out of my lungs. Being between a krogan and a hard place was never good.

Drack yelled and I felt the krogan-kett, the krott, being shoved away from me. I used my biotics to dart away from the chaos and threw a lance at the krott now attacking Drack. My eyes narrowed and I scowled as the krott kept on attacking. A final shot from Drack's shotgun and the being fell.

I took a deep breath and the scowl was erased. I ignored my companions and jogged out of the room. _I don't want to be in there. It's a sign of what might happen. What will happen if the Archon isn't stopped._ A hall filled with glass containers filled with liquids and different beings welcomed me.

"Pathfinder, a moment," SAM interrupted, stopping me in my tracks. "I'm picking up Krogan life signs on board the ship. Several captives are being held not far from your location. They are scheduled for exaltation."

I felt myself freeze for a moment. _They have them. They will keep on going until it's complete. Until everyone is a kett._

 _"_ Damn. Could be the rest of my missing scouts," Drack scowled.

"SAM do we have time to get there before the kett restore power?" I questioned. _Please tell me we do._

"If you act quickly."

I started sprinting out of the room until Rae's voice rang over the comm. "Ryder, it's Raeka. I'm pinned down. Don't think I'm going to make it."

"Where are you?" I crossed my fingers and said a silent and brief prayer.

"Near a holding cell where they are keeping several of my people. They're still alive. I ordered Captain Hayjer back to the Arc."

"Rae," My voice was low. "You should be with him. We can't lose you now."

"I couldn't just leave my people. I had to try and now... I think it's over. From one Pathfinder to another. Farewell Sara-"

"Don't you dare-"

"Raeka out."

I cursed. And cursed. And cursed some more. My biotics flared out dangerously as I paced back and forth, up and down the hall. _Why? Why? Why? Why now? Gosh damn it Rae! You just have to be a fucking hero don't you!_

"There isn't enough time to save both," SAM intoned. "Once-"

"I know!" I screamed, hands now viciously clawing at my tattoo. _Idea, idea, idea. Come on!_ I felt a something pull my hand away from my neck. I looked behind me and found two pools of deep blue eyes staring at me. He wrapped his fingers around my own and I felt my nerves settle. _I have to make a decision._

I felt like crying. "Reload. We need to get Raeka. Drack..." I turned towards him, but couldn't look him in the eyes. "I'm sorry. I had to make a decision."

He grumbled deep in his throat and we started walking. A deep weight settling in the bottom of my stomach. Fear, sorrow, guilt, hopelessness.

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **First things first. I'm sorry for the weird codes I had accidentally uploaded. It was not intentional and I thank everyone for pointing this out to me. You guys are the best. Now onto my original A.N. :**

 **I know, I know. I'm a terrible person. Updating late. It's a sinful deed. I'm not the happiest at this chapter especially with how ranging the emotions can be (sad to insane to fear to guilt to pride, my gosh Sara might as well be on her period...). Anyways, I won't give excuses and just say thank you for sticking with me despite the troubles. Now reviews...**

 **Guest: I saw that and smiled. I won't saw the type of smile, but I did smile. (Very cryptic I know, but any more and I'll spoil it ;3)**

 **Gofeer: I actually neglected Lexi until you brought that up, but now... I've got some good stuff in store for her FYI.**

 **More reviews are appreciated and so is all the follows and likes/favorites/thingies.**

 **-MeanE**


	14. F-you Lexi, Love Ryder

I saw the orange rays being produced from a blue wrist. I felt her hands gently apply medi-gel to my wounds. I looked to my right and saw the silent form of Jaal as he waited to be examined. _Why is he not talking?_ I looked forward and saw the lumbering form of Drack, a malestrom of emotions behind his weary eyes. _Why did I do this to him?_ I looked down at the hands I had folded in my lap.

"Ryder, are you positive you're fine?" Lexi asked again, concern still in her voice.

"Lexi, if I wasn't fine I wouldn't be speaking," I looked into her eyes. "I just need some time by myself."

She looked into my eyes for a moment before relenting. "Fine, but remember we are here for you."

I nodded and got up off of her medical bed. I walked out the door without a second glance behind me. I turned down the hallway and entered my room, instantly collapsing on my bed.

"What the hell am I doing?" I asked the air around me.

"Lying on your bed," came SAM's response.

I felt my eyes narrow. "It was rhetorical SAM."

"I know."

I groaned and turned on my side, feeling a plathora of pains all over my body.

 _Why did I chose the Salrians again? To help Kallo feel a bit at home? To please the dick-bag at the Nexus? To just be a jerk to Drack?_

 _No._

 _I thought it would be more people. I thought those Krogan were already doomed. They had already found a way to transform the Krogan into kett monstrosities, not the Salarians._

 _Now Drack wants to throw me out of the air lock._

I felt a weight settle into my stomach.

 _Then there is Jaal. Sweet, silent Jaal. He didn't speak as much as often._

 _He didn't say anything when I died._

I felt something break in me again.

 _Then there's that whole Archon thing..._

 _He throws me into the paralysis, puts a bug into my body via really sharp needle, threatens my team and the rest of the species in this galaxy, and, as a cherry on top, forces me to kill myself!_

A shiver races through my body at the remembrance of that single moment. I feel myself beginning to cave in under the pressure. _I need to move, a distraction, something!_

I get up off the bed and walk out of the bedroom. I make my way to Lexi's med-bay again. I stop just outside the door. _Voices. Lexi and... Jaal?_ I feel myself raise a brow. I leaned towards the door, censoring out all sounds, but their conversation.

"...not stable, Jaal. She will end up hurting you or herself," Lexi's voice explained.

My brows furrowed.

"What are you talking about, Lexi?" Jaal asked in return.

"She has... gone through traumatic experiences. Has killed someone because of it."

I bit down on my lip as my blood began to boil in rage. _She was talking to Jaal. About my personal information._

"You told me that before" Jaal's voice bit out. _What?_

"I just... don't want to see you get hurt by her. You will do something to remind her of that experience. She will react. I don't want pain for either of you, but I have to stop this. For both of your sake."

"Then what would you have me do?"

"Leave."

"What?"

My hands were gripped into tight fists. I felt my nails ripping into my palm.

"If you leave she will not have a reason to... react. You will both be safe. I will admit it is not the best idea, but-"

"Fine."

"What?"

"Fine I'll leave her."

I felt something being ripped from my chest, then rage engulfed my body.

"Enough!" I yelled, the med-bay door was now open. I saw Lexi's face become a pale blue, Jaal's eyes were widened in panic. I walked over to Lexi, then placed a finger on her chest.

"Lexi, what the fucking hell happened to not divulging a patient's information? Especially if the patient didn't even divulge it, but the bloody AI in her bloody head did!" I yelled.

Lexi held her stance. I felt the need to applaud her, but I simply turned to Jaal.

"And you, Jaal," I spat out with as much venom I could. _What are you doing?_ "You're obliging to her wishes all willy-nilly! What the hell about me? Do I get a say in this or no? Or am I just chopped liver to you? Someone who is too 'Unstable' for you to handle?"

He seemed shocked for a moment, then his jaw locked in place.

"Ryder," Lexi began, "are you-"

"Bitch, please. I don't want to hear another fucking word out of your blue mouth," I growled. "Revealing a patient's information is one thing, using that information against said patient is another. If you really wanted to talk you wouldn't have done either."

She was about to talk again, but I shut her down with an upheld hand. "Honestly, I was already pissed about SAM telling you about this and about your constant nagging. Of course I was bothered by the fact that I was raped! Why the hell would I not be? I still have nightmares about it!

"If you honestly cared you would not have brought it up at all. You would not have told Jaal."

"Then would you have told me at all?" came Jaal's outraged voice from the corner. _Ding, ding, ding! Round one... fight!_ "I wanted to know what was wrong! You would flinch away from me every time I held you!"

"Yes, I would have told you! I just..."

"Just what, Ryder? Waited until you were dead on the ground because of the Archon?"

I felt myself flinch. "No! Do you realize how hard it is to say 'I got raped by a fucker. I already killed him too. Let's go make-out'?"

"Do you know how it feels not to know about this? That the woman you loved doesn't trust you enough to reveal her own pains? That she is too proud and selfish to tell anyone?"

"I'm the selfish one? If I were selfish I would have left this all a long time ago! I never wanted to take care of thousands upon thousands of people! If I was selfish I would have ran! Ran for so long and so hard that I would have reached Earth by now! Back to my home! Back to a place without the Kett, the Remnant, the Angara, and without you!" I felt tears begin to prickle at my eyes. _Why the hell did you say that, Sara? You fool! He will leave! Lexi is right! You are hurting him!_

"Then go back! We never needed your race! You can only cause more problems for us! Especially you, Pathfinder! Planting your flag where you please, taking our homes and resources!"

"At least we are willing to share openly! The Angara have me go through test after test, mission after mission just to move to a single location!"

"That's because we can't trust your people! Especially with their leader kissing other men!"

My biotics flared up, but I controlled it. Ensuring I wouldn't end up literally exploding. "In the very least I can create and support relationships! You can't even keep one woman before your brothers take her away!"

 _Too far. You went too far, Sara._

I hadn't noticed it before, but we were now standing face to face. Except it felt like Jaal was growing in size as the rage engulfed him. I grit my teeth, sending the nastiest glares I could muster at him.

"If you want to leave. Then leave," I spat out.

"Fine, Pathfinder," Jaal spat out in return. I watched him turn and exit the room, maneuvering around the crowd that had gathered by the med-bay door. I stomped out of the room after him, then my stomps turned into slow steps, and I was halted outside the door to my cabin. I viciously scratched at my neck, trying to distract me from the tears distorting my vision.

A gloved hand moved my own, stopping my vicious scratching. I turned around. Peebee stood there with a soft smile on her face, she gently wrapped her arms around me. I felt myself crack and fissure. Finally, the dam was broken and I was crying into her shoulder.

 _Your alone now, Sara._

 _Your parents are gone._

 _Your little brother is gone._

 _Jaal is gone._

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **Oh, gosh. It was really hard writing this chapter. Not emotionally, it was just hard finding a situation to break them up... Sorry for the late update... again. I got distracted with a Dragon Age fic I'm going to start once I'm done with this tale.**

 **Guest: I gave you more! Feel happy! (or sad... depends)**

 **Thanks for all the follows, reviews, favorites, etc. I always feel happy when my gmail is filled with notifications (unless it's spam mail. :/)!**


	15. Politicians are the Weeds of the Galaxy

Jaal was gone. He had asked to be dropped off at Aya and that I did. I avoided Lexi like the plague, knowing that she would only anger me further. The only time I rested came with despair as images of the past flashed by. My team tip-toed around me, none of Peebee's teasing, none of Liam's antics, nothing. They wouldn't laugh or joke with me. Hell, they didn't talk to me or about me until I was out of their earshot.

The few moments of happiness occurred during missions to find the arcs and smaller missions my team would send me on. I would vent out my emotions whilst crushing the skulls of kett or simply talking to other people. Tiny moments of happiness and fighting. Then I was sent back to the Nexus for a meeting, for a chance to get to Meridian.

* * *

I walked up the ramp to Tann's "Pathfinder Museum/Meeting room" only to hear the sounds of arguing. I sighed. _Here we go again. Damn politics._

"Of course you approve," Kesh said angrily. "Ryder saved your people!"

 _That hurt._

"Ryder saved our people. It doesn't matter if they were Salarians- they were citizens of the Initiative," Tann retorted, hands behind his back in an authoritative position.

"But it doesn't hurt if there's a few less Krogan around, does it?" Kesh challenged.

Addison cleared her throat. "The Pathfinder."

Kesh turned to me with cold eyes. "Ryder. We were discussing how things ended with the Archon."

I looked downward for a moment then met her gaze. "I had to make a decision. I am sorry for your loss."

Kesh scoffed. "There have been other 'decisions' in the past which ended in my people dying. Maybe someday someone will show a little sympathy. Even for just a few Krogan."

I felt my blood begin to boil. _A few Krogan or a bunch of Salarians. I would like to see you make that decision, but you would probably choose a single Krogan over the whole Salarian species. Nationalistic, son of a-_

"Yet I have to question what we've gained provoking the Archon like this?" Kandros asked looking over to me.

I walked over to a console, "He had a map that detailed the location of Meridian. Now we have it and a short window to get there," I gestured to the image above me. "It is the control center for the terraforming network. It's a way to make all planets with vaults habitable and then all of our problems are solved. Quick and easy."

"Based on what datat? This is all alien science," Tann questioned.

I glared at him, "The vault on Aya suggests that Meridian is the key."

Kandros walked up to me, a sympathetic look written on his face. "While I appreciate what you've done for our strike teams, we're not equipped for a war with the kett. They'll be defending Meridian with everything they've got."

"Sitting here and doing nothing only gives the Archon more time to perfect our own exaltation. We will be fighting. No matter what you try to avoid it," I growled.

"Still," Addison interrupted. "It's better to focus on the outposts. If the kett attack at least our people won't be in one place."

"Then there's this SAM of yours," Kesh started. "We took a chance getting AI involved. Frankly, I'm uncomfortable with just how involved it's become."

I took a deep breath.

"I can't support your plan, Ryder," She finished.

Rae walked forward, "Then I will. Ryder deserves a chance to try."

Tann turned towards Rae, still in his professional stance. "I applaud the gesture, but you answer to me. I hope you understand."

I grit my teeth. _I fucking hate politics. Especially when the politicians are mostly nationalistic, trying to start a monarchy, or darn right retarded._

"You feeling threatened, Tann? Don't want another person greater than you?" I said lowly.

He looked to me coldly. "It's not called the 'Pathfinnder Initiative'. The chains of command has to be respected. That is all."

I push down an urge to flare my biotics and instead walked away. I followed after Rae towards the front desk. I watched as the "Chain of Command" walked past me. Once they were gone I turned to Rae.

"I should feel surprised, but all I feel is pissed. To add on I don't exactly have a Plan B, " I growled.

"There may be a way," Rae said with a small gesture.

The Salarian behind the desk spoke up, "Pathfinder, apologies. There was an urgent message for you- they said your brother is awake."

I felt my eyes widen and my anger melting away. "What?" I asked weakly.

"Go," Rae said quickly. "We'll talk later in the Tech Lab."

I nodded and ran out of the room. _He's awake!_

* * *

I walked into the room, a smile stretching my face when I caught sight of my brother in his full, dark blonde hair, blue eyed glory.

"Scott!" I continued to smile, but all I got was a cold glare.

"You lied about dad. You told me he was alive!"

"Oh, Scott," I said sadly, walking up to him with open arms. His cold stare penetrated through me as he shook his head slowly. I dropped my arms back to my side. _He's going to leave you. He's going to leave just like mom, dad, and Jaal._ I pushed the thoughts down.

"Why?" He commanded.

I felt my smile turn into a frown, "I didn't know if it would hurt your recovery. Hell, I was in shock for a whole day after he..." I shook my head and sat down next to him.

"Well, it's hurting pretty bad right now," He retaliated.

"I know. It is never going to be easy, Scott. I just... wanted to be here to help you," I lifted my legs up onto the bed, curling up into a ball next to him. _I want you to have someone helping you when no one helped me._

He remained silent for a moment, "Come here." I uncurled from my ball and he shifted closer to me, placing a hand over my shoulder. "It's just you and me now, sis."

"I know, but they both believed in us. We can do this," I said resolutely.

I felt his arm slip away, "What's this rumor I'm hearing, you're the Pathfinder?"

I shook my head bitterly, "Dad's parting gift."

Scott stood up, "As soon as I get my gear, we will-" He swayed forward, but I immediately stood up and caught him.

"Careful! Your not recovered yet, you need to stay here," I settled him back onto the bed.

"You're not set for duty, sir. You need a chance to mend," Harry said calmly.

"Says who?" My brother challenged.

"Says me," I said with furrowing brows. "I'm not going to lose you because of your own stubbornness. I've lost too much already."

He yawned, lying back down onto the bed, "Fine, but I'll get back at you for this. Better hope I never tell anyone about that year you only ate paste."

I smiled at his teasing.

"Was it first grade? Or second?"

"As if I'd tell you," I rolled my eyes, feeling the tension ease off of my shoulders.

"You can keep talking if you like. Just no arm wrestling," Harry said before walking away.

"No promises," I whispered. Scott snickered at that.

"Feeling out of the loop?"

"A little, though I've heard bits and pieces of things from Harry and the med techs. Sounds pretty serious," He said softly.

"You have no clue, little bro."

* * *

I sauntered into the Tech Lab, a weight finally off my shoulders after what seemed like an eternity. Rae strode up to me with a stressed look on her face.

"Ryder, good to see you. We've been worker with Doctor Aridana and her team on the problem of getting to Meridia," Rae spoke with her usual no-questions-asked voice.

I turned my head to peer at the blue asari tapping away at her computer. She turned her head, "We think we have the answer."

"Great... Now tell me," I said rather bluntly.

"It's plans for new technology we've designated Ghost Storm," She spoke before returning her attention to the screen in front of her.

"When you approach Meridian our own ships can broadcast fake returns for the _Tempest_ ," Rae simplified.

The lead scientist, Professor Herik, spoke up, "The kett won't know which one is genuine. It will confuse their sensors and draw their ships off."

"It could buy you some time," Doctor Aridana said.

"I'll have to work with that then," I said simply.

"The rest will be on you," Rae said, not reassuring me at all.

"I can handle it. Going against the superiors is all in a days work. Next thing I know, I'll be hanging up on the coucil. Now, you didn't hear any of that," I said looking at each of them.

"Hear what?" Doctor Adriana asked innocently, "We've been busy collating gamma charts all day."

I smiled at her. I walked over to Rae's side.

"Occupational hazard. Part of being a Pathfinder," Rae shrugged.

I chuckled, "Let's get to it. The Archon is never too keen on waiting for anything, but I still have yet to begin."

"You'll have to research the Ghost Storm technology to start. It'll take some time, but we don't have a choice in that matter. Once each device is installed in our ships, we'll meet you at Meridian at your signal. Good luck."

 _And I can't start a war without an army or backup. Can't ask anyone associated with the Initiative and I darn right don't want to go to Kadara. All that's left is Resistance. Evfra, don't drop out on me now!_

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **I know, tons of dialogue, soooo boring. It was going to be longer, but I decided to cut it in half because it makes sense.**

 **Reviews:**

 **dbzcat: Hehe, it's nice to know you like it so much. :)**

 **Guest: Sorry. Don't know if this is happy or not... but you got something. P.S. Getting them back together is too easy. Gotta be mean and make it harder for myself!**

 **Jayfeattheris Awesome: I like your simplicity.**

 **Thank you for the Reviews! (More thoughts (and funny comments) would be appreciated!) The people who favorite and follow my story are still in my heart and thoughts, though!**

 **-MeanE**


	16. Evfra's Revenge

I sighed heavily and walked to the Tempest. _Time to contact Evfra_. I hiked up the ramp and into the meeting room. Quickly I typed in Evfra's comm channel number into the console. A few seconds passed before Evfra's scarred face finally appeared beside me.

"Pathfinder, what are you asking for this time?" asked Evfra getting straight to the point. _Oh, how I missed your ugly, smug face._

I sighed irritably, "I need an Angaran team, preferably a team of infiltrators, for a vital mission."

"Vital?"

"We found Meridian and the Kett have already surrounded it. My team will be sneaking past their scanners in the Tempest and will enter Meridian. If a second team comes with us then our chances of capturing Meridian are greatly improved."

He nodded in acceptance. "I will send a team your way. Meet them at these coordinates on Voeld."

"Thank you," I nodded in return. Efvra's image flickered away. _That was surprisingly easy._ I made my way to the cockpit and entered Voeld's coordinates in.

X

Liam and Peebee were arguing about something stupid. My eyebrow twitched and I clutched the wheel tighter. _Please, shut the bloody hell up!_ I slammed my foot on the gas pedal and we sailed over a cliff, slamming into the ground.

"I bit my tongue!" exclaimed Liam and I smiled.

I could see some Angaran tents in the distance and I maintained my speed by continuously switching gears with the changing terrain.

"Haha! You bit yo-Ow!", Peebee exclaimed. _Did she also bite her tongue?_

Liam laughed loudly, "Karma!" _Yes, yes she did._

I drifted into a position right next to the camp, a small group of Angarans ignored the vehicle and continued rushing to and from the camp. We climbed out of the Nomad, boots crunching in the snow as we jumped out. A pair of Angara hurried to-and-fro carrying crates of supplies. The pair shared a royal blue skin tone and soft features. Another angara with a green and blue face pointed at places for them to set the boxes, an orange globe hovering above his wrist. An angara further away with sky blue skin was taking down a tent. Each of them ignored us and the _Nomad_ that was inconspicuously parked a few feet away.

I cleared my throat, trying to catch their attention and succeeding. "You're the group that will traveling with me and my team. Right?"

The green man stood up slightly, "Yes. Are you our new assignment, Pathfinder?"

I nodded, "You will be accompanying me to Meridian as I'm sure Evfra has briefed. Are you the leader?"

"No," He shook his head, "Our leader is scouting for kett and should be returning soon."

"SAM?" I switched my attention, "Send my co-ordinates to the Tempest. We can have them pick us up."

"Yes, Ryder."

"Thank you," my attention returned to the angara in front of me, "Need help?"

"It's not necessary."

I frowned slightly. "I insist. The quicker we get the camp packed, the quicker we can leave this cold."

"Fine," He resigned, "Help Kaalar take down the tent."

I smiled brightly and jogged over to the light blue angara I saw earlier. Kalaar gave me a quick set of instructions and I followed them the best I could. Peebee walked over to the twin Angara while Liam walked with green man. The tent was more complicated than I expected and the angara I was working with had to repeat his instructions twice before I finally got an idea about what to do. The sun stayed in its position high above in the sky, only moving a fraction of an inch even though it was at least an hour or two before we finally had the entirety of the camp packed.

I sat down silently in the snow and Kalaar moved away from the now infinitely smaller tent to tell the green angara of our progression. My eyes scanned the area. Snow, blinding white, sky, thick clusters of clouds slowly drifting overhead, ice, crates, human, asari, angara, repeat. _When is this so called leader going to show? I'm sure patrolling the area doesn't take this long unless he or she is slacking off._

I heard Peebee enthusiastically talking to the male twin that she helped. _She must fancy him_. I felt a pang of sadness and jealousy at her happiness. Memories of a caped angara drifting into my mind. I lied in the snow, hair crowding around my head like a light blue halo. I felt like crying for a moment, but the feeling quickly passed as the cold bit into my skin. My eyes gently closed and I remained in a state of tranquility.

A familiar voice chimed in my ears. I ignored it. _You've going insane, Sara. Absolutely insane._ The voice rang again and I opened my eyes, sitting up. Small pieces of snow clung delicately to my blue hair and snow drifted quietly around me. I felt like screaming.

A blue cape danced in between the small snowflakes, a purple head and blue armor peeking out from underneath the fabric. His voice echoed joyfully in my ears and a blade felt like it was being twisted in my chest. _He left. He left. He left. He can't be here. He can't._ I saw him slowly turn towards me and what was a smile on his countenance vanished. Jaal's blue eyes turned dull and were closed off when he saw me. Fury was ignited within me when his eyes grazed over mine before returning to the blue female.

I smiled coldly as snow was gathered into my fist and I furiously packed it into a ball. Biotics crawled up my figure as I launched the ball at the back of his head.

Jaal's head bowed forward slightly when the ball infused with dark energy hit its mark.

Silence.

He slowly turned toward me, a dangerous look in his eye, but I stared back defiantly feeling my blood simmer. Jaal stalked over to me and everyone remained quiet. He now stood above me with a frown curling his lips downwards. _Fight me! I dare you!_

"Don't embarrass yourself more than you already have, Pathfinder." _Pathfinder. Pathfinder. Pathfinder. He really hates me then. Fine. Two can play at that game._

"No, this is normal behavior for me. Don't you know? I follow my own orders. Not the Nexus or Tann's. Not your's. I do what I want as long as I produce results," I grit out between my teeth.

He scoffed slightly at that. I was about to retort back when I heard the Tempest setting down on the snow a distance away.

"Let's go! Take all crates and store them in the Mako's bay. Archon will not wait for us while we stop and smell the roses!" I yelled everyone into action.

X

The two teams stood in two lines facing each other. I stood at the head with Jaal staring coldly at me. I strained a smile and clapped my hands to get their attention.

"Okay! Introductions, let's make this quick. I am a Pathfinder, Sara Ryder. You piss me off too much and I might throw you out the airlock. Questions? No? Good. Next person," I clipped out. _I hate this._

This kind of pattern continued until we were finished with everyone. The blue twin angara were called Friela and Grahl, twins in fact. Grahl kept on giving Peebee moon eyes. Friela, on the other hand, kept not-so-subtly flirting with Jaal who only smiled back at her. I couldn't tell if she was purposely trying to piss me off, but she was still succeeding. _She's first on my hit list._ The green and blue angara was called Yefran and seemed to be Jaal's right hand man. He was nice enough. Kaalar was quiet most of the time.

Once the meet and greet was over I escaped to my room hoping to sleep my stress away despite the flirtations of Friela echoing through the ship. I walked to my computer and looked at my recent emails.

 _Nothing new. Nothing new._

I shut off the device. Walked to the other side of my room. Then back to the side I was previously at. I continued that motion. _Evfra, you smug son of a gun. I bet you're laughing right now. I swear the next time I get my hands on you I'll-_

"Sara, you have a new email," SAM said mechanically.

I nodded and walked over to the terminal. _Now who is it?_ I looked at the email. It was a list of every new Angara on board, where they would sleep, and what they brought. I smiled at the memory of Jaal first joining us.

 _Don't smile like an idjit! He is done with you! You guys are over! He left you!_

My expression soured and turned off the device again. I walked to my closet, ripping off my underamor. The heap of fabric was left to the side as I stood there in only my underwear, rifling through the clothing.

A knock on the door. I ignored it. Another knock. _I just want some privacy!_

"What the hell do you want?" I yelled, still trying to find some comfortable clothing.

"We need to talk, Pathfinder," said a deep voice from the other side. I growled. _Jaal._

"Go to hell!" I shouted, now paused in my actions. I waited for a moment. Once I thought he walked away I continued going through clothing, pulling out an oversized sweater and putting it on. _Where did all these crappy pants come from? I mean jogging pants? Really?_

I heard the door hiss open and I turned. Jaal stood there, looking left and right until his eyes locked onto me. The door closed behind him and I swear I heard the tick of a lock. My eyes widened and my face burned in embarrassment. Jaal's own eyes widened and he froze into place, eyes locked onto my bare legs in curiosity. I quickly grabbed some jogging pants and tugged them on. Jaal was still frozen, still staring at me. _Stop staring._

"What the hell do you want, Jaal?" I snapped, rather irritated at his intrusion into my room.

His eyes seemed to clear a bit and his gaze pierced through me. "We need to talk, Pathfinder."

I rolled my eyes at his use of my title. _Are you really going to rub salt in the wound?_ "About what?" I grunted while walking over to my couch. The normal bottle of alcohol was replaced with a bottle of pink juice because Lexi managed to sneak in and decided drinking away my problems was not the best idea. I poured myself a cup of the pink juice and relaxed onto the couch, still glaring at Jaal.

"We need to work together if both of our teams are to interact without tension," He spoke clearly, standing over me.

I narrowed my eyes slightly. "Who says we aren't already working together?" I asked. I sipped at the juice in my hands. _Oh, pink lemonade. Who knew?_

"You have been avoiding me and the rest of my team, Pathfinder," Jaal stated calmly.

"I do that for good reason and you aren't the only one, Jaal. You guys aren't being subjected to special treatment. Everyone avoids me for good reason," I stated casually. _Keep cool, maybe then he'll bugger the hell off._

"Having your leader behind locked doors only separates a strong team," Jaal replied, eyes cold.

I glowered at him. "Really? If you hadn't already noticed my doors aren't locked, Jaal," I spat out.

"I am the bloody ticking time bomb on this ship. They make one wrong move and 'Boom!'," I gestured dramatically for him to understand my predicamate a bit better.

"Then show them otherwise!" Jaal yelled. _Mood swing much?_

"How? By being all chatty with them? They don't even talk normally around me, retard! Kicking Lexi off this blasted ship? Then we lost our medical help! Throwing your bloody girlfriend out the airlock? Then you're probably going to throw another hissy fit and run away again!" I yelled, face turning red from anger and biotics flaring. "Just piss off, Jaal. You're only going to be here for a short time anyway. No need for you to open up old wounds."

Jaal nodded stifly. I could see the anger in his eyes, waiting for something else to set him off. He turned and left me in my room. I sipped at my juice again, silent.

 _Well, shit._

X

 **A.N.**

 **Sooo, they aren't happy with each other, but it's fine because they are back together again like you guys wanted :D!  
**

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 **arinandron: That's Jaal's new nickname now. Thank you. :3**

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 **Comments, favorites, follows, or just even looking at it is great to see and I love every single time I see you guys enjoying my writing!**

 **-MeanE**


	17. Space Pirating For Dummies

I stared out into the deep abyss in front of me, small pieces of scrap metal floating just beyond the screen. I looked down at my omni-tool, trying to check if we were at the right location.

"This is the right place... right?" I asked.

A door opened behind me and I turned to face the intruder. "This is on me. I'll take care of it," Liam said while walking to my side. "Any sign of the pirates who took my contact?"

"There's too much background radiation. Could be anything hiding out there-all that debris in orbit," Suvi informed us. _Great. Just great. Walking in blind is always a good thing to do._

"That tracks," Liam said simply, "Heard they were scavengers. I hoped Bradley or some of our colonists would follow. Join in."

I shook my head, "We will make do. What's the plan?"

"Somewhere out there is a ship full of pirates. They might have our specs-"

"Thanks to you," Kallo interrupted coldly.

"Yes, thanks to me. So, we can't go in hot," Liam relented.

I looked at him, a frown pulling at the corner of my lips. _Are you kidding me?_

"I say we play to their scavenger roots. With... that debris. I'll explain in the airlock. We've wasted enough time. Let's hit the go button, shoot pirates, and save people. We've got this."

I sighed and shook my head, "All right. I'm in. Let's go get our space pirate job applications."

"Yeah, I thought you'd..." His eyes widened ass my words finally registered to him, "Wait, what? I mean, yeah. Hell, yeah!"

 _He honestly thinks I would pass up fighting space pirates and their robotic parakeets?_

"We play this right, they'll deliver us just where we need to go. I have a plan," Liam led me out of the room.

* * *

"Not loving this plan, Liam," I said with a frown on my face. _Holy hell, it's dark._

"Come on. Hiding in derelict cargo to get scavenged? Sure, we don't know what we're up against. Neither do they. Trojan horse, simple," Liam responded.

"What's a horse and how do we know there's air out there?" Jaal asked from my side. I mentally groaned. _Why are we taking Jaal again? Oh yeah... because Peebee was fixing her robot, Vetra was organizing our supplies, Drack was trying to catch a rodent, and Cora was meditating. I swear they were just making excuses to get me and Jaal to make nice._

Liam kicked open the container's doors. "There's air."

I took off my helmet and walked out of the container. A lone angaran heat lamp stood in the corner surrounded by cargo boxes.

"Whoa this isn't right," Liam mumbled.

I gave a deadpanned look. A giant kett styled room stood in front of us. _Fucking hell._

"Liam, this is not the space pirate academy. This is a kett ship. A fucking big as hell one," I growled slightly.

"Change... change of plan?" He said weakly.

I gave him another deadpanned expression and simply shook my head, preparing my biotics. I walked out of the cover, shotgun in hand. I spotted angara running up the ramps. _No kett?_

"Okay. It's a kett ship, but scavenging isn't their MO," Liam commented.

I threw a bolt of biotics at an incoming adhi and put two rounds in its chest. An alarm went off within the ship. I charged into an angara on the stairs.

"Tell Calot we have stows! We have stows!" A pirate yelled from the second floor.

I swung my krogan hammer into a pirate causing him to fly over the railing. I ran up the stairs and started putting round after round of shrapnel into the enemy angara.

"Definitely not kett running this thing!" Liam yelled over the gunfire. I rolled my eyes.

"No, shit Sherlock!" I yelled back.

I rammed into a pirate downstairs, killing him with a single blow. The area was clear. I picked up some spare ammo and walked back up the stairs.

"Report! What's going on down there?" A man-probably Calot-yelled over comm.

"Sounds like we could get some answers?" Liam said.

I walked over to a glowing console. _He sounds desperate._

"For the last time, report! We just fixed those bay seals. If you idiots blew them, I'll have your skins!"

 _That's probably why. Heartless guy only cares about this lump of kett shit he calls a ship._

I smiled slightly and activated the console. "Everything's under control. Just a simple weapon malfunction. How are you?" I asked. Liam snickered from behind me. I turned to him with a smile.

"What is this? Get cameras on bay! We'll figure it out!"

An image flickered to life next to me. It was an angara, but the coloring was extremely distorted so I couldn't make out any details.

"Stows? This ship is property of Talon Wing. Now you're property too, just like the rest. I don't let-"

I slammed my fist on the console and the image vanished. _He didn't help much. Only pissed me off a little._

"Well that wasn't going anywhere useful. Shoot bad guys, rescue good guys," I said simply with a shrug.

"She's here... somewhere. Think they salvaged this thing?" Liam said while pacing

"They're not kett," I responded simply. "SAM do you have our location?"

"Not precisely, Pathfinder. Debris and radiation are still disrupting scans," came his mechanical voice through our comms.

"Where to Liam?"

"Find Verand and fast. This way?" He walked to the nearest door and opened it. A turret faced towards us and began powering up. I raised my weapon, biotics thrumming.

"Not that way!" Liam said quickly, closing the door before it shot at us. "Start there! Let's go!"

We ran to the other side of the room, "Fight through to the door they came in!"

"We're sure the captives are there?" I asked. I launched a lance at one of the pirates and charged at the other.

"Have to be somewhere!" He responded. "Think I heard of this Calot and his 'Wing'! Supposed to be small time!"

I sighed and shot another guy trying to gang up on me. "Ship says otherwise!"

"Lucky find?"

"Tougher enemies! Reinforcements!" Jaal yelled over comm. I launched myself onto the second floor and slammed my hammer down on the angara's skull. I fired at another person.

"Got to be it, head for the door!" Liam shouted pointing at the door behind me. I tried to open the door, but it sealed on me.

"Door's sealed! Over ride from console?" Liam said again. I rolled my eyes. _No, duh._

I began syncing up to the console. A minute passed and Liam began pacing behind me. My eyebrow twitched in irritation.

"Come on, we have to find Verand!" He yelled, trying to get me to go faster. I grit my teeth.

"We don't know if this is the right way and I will take my damn time!" I yelled over my shoulder.

"Well, something has to go right! You take a risk for the right reason, it's supposed to work!" Liam punched the crate next to us. Jaal stood silent off to the side.

"Not fucking helping, Liam," I said with as calm a voice as I could muster.

"I know! It's stupid! It's everything!" He shook his hand in pain.

"Shut it! Stop hoping things will work and stay on task!" I commanded. "Stop hoping for things that aren't going to work out!"

An image flickered on the console next to us.

A chuckle came from the image, "You turn on each other-."

I felt my blood boil. My shotgun was whipped out and I fired a single shell into the console. Liam backed away slightly with palms raised in a placating gesture.

"We have a fucking terrible plan to rescue people and I swear we're going to fucking do it!" I yelled. "Any questions?"

Liam shook his head with a goofy smile on his face, "Nope."

"Good!" I turned towards the console, "I shot the crappy as hell console... think he'll be mad?"

Liam shrugged his shoulders, "What more could he do?"

I heard an alarm go off and was suddenly whipped backwards into the air. My body rotated a few times before I could fully comprehend what was happening. I grabbed onto a bar that jutted out from the structure. _How original, using the airlock. I should've thought of it before! Oh wait, I have._

A piece of debris flew by Liam who was holding onto the bar right next to me, "Ah! Shit!"

I smiled slightly, "Liam! Hold me!"

Liam cracked up into laughter and I joined him.

"Unimpressed!" Jaal shouted nonchalantly.

I laughed a bit louder at Jaal and his carefree attitude about us being air-locked. I felt all the stresses of the previous days fall off my shoulders as I held tightly onto the piece of jutting metal. _Funny how I feel happier despite my life being in peril and my ex being right next to me._

I grit my teeth as my grip begin to slip. One of my hands flew behind me. "Fuck!" I yelled trying to latch back on to it.

"You folks need a hand?" A low-pitched voice rang over our comms.

"Yes!" I yelled feeling my other hand begin to slip away as well.

Liam let out a nervous laugh, "Augie? You have timing!" _Augie? Is that Bradley's nickname? I'll have to start using that._

I heard the door behind us close and my body slowly descended.

"We would have come sooner, but we didn't know how we could help. Settlers aren't soldiers," Augie informed us. "But a wreck of a ship with bad shielding? We've got engineers, son!"

I pulled myself onto the bar and sat there patiently.

"Oh, power surge! This beast does not like being prodded!" I heard a smile in Augie's voice.

I swayed on my feet before being pulled downwards. "The artificial gravity! You disabled it! Everything's shifting!" I yelled while being pulled down to the floor.

"Liam, Pathfinder, are you okay?" Augie asked after a moment.

I groaned slightly feeling extremely uncomfortable with a giant warm mass pushing me into a crevice. "Get the hell off of me," I whispered. I felt the weight leave and I stood up from my position. I looked around and saw the now inverted room.

"We're here, but things have gone a little sideways," I spoke while jumping over a crate. I pushed myself forward over the huge chasm in between me and the other side of the room. I slowly climbed up the wall, using my biotics to help me.

"Get to engineering and fix the gravs!" Calot spoke over loudspeaker, "Then I'll do it myself!" I heard gunshots echoing from the speakers.

I opened a sideways door and walked through it. I launched myself at the angara on the far side of the room, swinging a biotic infused fist into his face. I whistled as he sailed through the air into a crate.

"We've lost the map. SAM?" Jaal asked over comm.

"I'm having difficulty analyzing predictive meshes. Walls are not floors," SAM responded mechanically.

Liam nodded as he ran to meet me at the door, "I feel you."

I opened another door and threw a lance at a raider. "We may be in for a lot of pirates. Big ship!" Jaal said. I rolled my eyes. _Captain obvious._

I launched myself at the guy hiding behind cover, effectively pushing him backwards.

"A ship like this would really bring in recruits," Liam added.

I shot two shells into him before he finally fell.

"Get me grav control! Idiots!" Calot yelled again.

"Fight him for it. Report!" Augie said over comms.

I ignored their reports and focused on working my way through the ship using my biotic bursts to propel me upwards. I heard a thunderous crashing from behind us and turned. The entire hallway had collapsed.

"No turning back now," I muttered.

"Sounds like we're committed to moving forward," Jaal added begrudgingly

"Bright side: no one's sneaking up on us from behind," Liam said optimistically.

I jumped over to the next door and opened it. I frowned as I saw a pile of crates and other supplies blocking it. "Dead end," I growled, turning back to my team.

"Bound to be another way," Liam looked upward, "Back above us."

I launched myself up to a vent. I felt biotics thrum through my body as I smashed the grating to pieces. Walking through I saw more crates stacked on each other.

"Long way up," Jaal murmured.

"Wait... there'll be... a vent. We can blow it!" Liam said enthusiastically.

"How do you know that?" I asked a bit agitated at the work out I was getting.

"Verand mentioned it. Believe I said she studies tech," Liam responded while climbing up some tubes. _I don't remember that..._

I ran to another grate and smashed it in. I jumped forward using a burst of biotics to push me towards an outstretched tube. I reached out to grab it only to miss and fall downwards to the ground. I grunted as my feet collided onto the floor. I rolled into cover.

"Watch it, they're getting their footing!" Liam warned.

"So are we," Jaal said and I heard his rifle fire from above me.

I threw a lance at a running pirate before shooting him down.

"There! See how it's done? Sealed them in!" Calot revealed.

I groaned and launched myself at a pirate on the lowest level.

"Shoot them- no more excuses!"

I felt a sharp pain travel up my leg as I ran to shoot another man. _Did I do something to my leg when I fell?_ I ignored it and instead kept on running and gunning. _Act normal. I'm sure it's not that bad and I don't need Lexi in my presence ever again._

"We'll get the door! You fight!" Augie commanded.

I jumped into the air and slammed my fist down at some pirates who were trying to surround me.

"I'm still surprised they don't make pirate sounds when they talk and I have yet to see the mechanical bird on Calot's shoulder," I commented while throwing another lance.

I heard Liam chuckle and Jaal coughing slightly. _Are you trying to hide the fact that you nearly laughed, Jaal?_ I shot a man and threw myself to another female who was trying to get behind Liam. I saw the woman crash into a wall and immediately put a round in her chest.

My shield went down and I turned to see a beam of red in front of me. I ducked into cover and heard a fire rifle along with the dull thud of a body hitting the floor. I looked up to see the sniper dead on the ground and Jaal walking forward with his rifle out.

"Pathfinder? Tanner's working on the lockdown," Augie said. "Everything's a mess. I can get you out, but I need data. There should be a control hub in that room. Get a scan and have SAM push it to me."

I nodded and jumped onto the second floor-thing that led to a small alcove. A subtle ringing was in my ears, giving louder and more frequent sounds the closer I was to the hub. I accessed my scanner and looked around the small room. _There you are._

"Forwarding scan results," SAM spoke.

"Bah! This Calot ran a simple power reroute. Amateur," Tanner said in clear disapproval. "Hit these access points, Pathfinder. I'll sync with your effort."

I ran out of the room, a pain racing up my left leg each time I took a step. I jumped over to one of the points and activated it. Once that was done, I climbed up the wall leading into the upper sections of the tilted room.

"He found a way to retrofit a derelict, and he's wasting it on raiding?" Liam seemed stunned with the revelation.

"Some people get beat down and don't get back up," Jaal responded coldly. I felt his eyes on my back as I ran.

"Piss off," I mumbled. "No one needs your negativity."

"What was that, Pathfinder?" Jaal asked.

I turned towards him with a deadly glare. "I know exactly who that little 'phrase' was pointed towards. Unless you want your brains blown in by my shotgun, you better shut up."

Jaal gave me a cold look. I returned it with equal iciness. We held each other's stares without blinking, not wanting to be the one to give up first.

"Hey, hey, let's just simmer down for a moment! We still have to save Verand," Liam said with his hands against both of our arms.

"Your right, Liam. That's exactly what we are going to do first. Once that's done I'll kill him," I said with my arms crossed.

Liam sighed as I ran over to the console and quickly accessed it. Water started to soak into my boots from the puddle I was standing in.

"That's all I need. Give me a minute," Tanner said over comm.

"And we know a little about this Calot," Liam added.

"It's Pirate Captain Calot, Liam. Remember the big ship we are on?" I joked.

Liam shook his head and we jogged back, I grit my teeth slightly as the pain increased. "Seen his kind before. Small man, big gun."

I lowered myself down to the floor below us with some biotics. "I'm in their security, if you want to call it that. There's the doors and... oh, cameras!"

"On it! Watch the monitors!" came a female voice.

The screens in front of us lit up with images of people clustered in one room. _The captives._

"There's Verand! And... what the hell? They have humans locked too!" Liam exclaimed while pointing at each passing person on the monitor.

"Got your timing wrong, Liam. Calot wasn't hitting the Intiative 'soon'," Augie growled.

"He already did! Ryder, we have to end this!" Liam commanded.

"Calm down. I'm working on it," I said between grit teeth. _Crap my leg hurts a lot._

I opened the door and entered the room. The gravity suddenly shifted and I was thrown downwards. I grunted softly as another spike of pain raced up my leg. A deep rumbling came from underneath me and I turned my head to look at what was causing the odd sensation. I was seated on the poncho wearing alien, his eyes glaring into my own. I got up from on top of him, making sure that my expression and the heating of my face was controlled.

"Augie?" Liam called out.

I walked to the upside-down door and opened it quickly.

"Still here. We'll find you a route to those captives," Augie replied.

I climbed over the frame of the door and into what I assumed to be the cargo bay. I lowered myself onto the ground and checked for enemies or the hostages.

"What do you mean you can't see them? Well, get ready everywhere!" Calot ordered.

"I'm looking forward to meeting him," Jaal growled.

"As am I. Can't wait to see if he has the peg leg and eye patch!" I added sarcastically, looking back at my team. Jaal glared at me for a moment.

Liam pointed upward, "Ryder. That door up there. It was blocked before."

"Augie, can you do anything?" I asked looking at the door Liam pointed at.

"Negative. You'll have to scan for something manual... and don't call me Augie."

"Never," I smiled. I jumped over to the other side of the room, hearing the soft beeping crescendo as I drew closer to the object I needed. I quickly scanned the crane and smiled. _If the crane is down here then the operation panel is up there._ I jumped up a few crates and entered a room. I activated the console in front of me.

"Still on their cameras. Calot has filled the hall past the door," a woman voiced over comm.

"And the captives?" Liam asked while climbing through the doorway.

"Past them."

I activated the crane. A rumbling noise permeated the room as the crane moved to the other side of the room. I ran out of the room and took note of the pirates invading the room. I jumped to the other side of the room and sent a lance at a pirate who was jumping out of the doorway.

I ran forward, ignoring the pain in my leg. I launched myself at a sniper in the doorway, knocking his shields down before I swung my krogan hammer into her face. I slammed my fist into the ground and two more pirates flew off the doorway, each landing painfully on the ground below. One of them didn't get up. I shot the closest pirate twice before he fell before throwing another lance at the pirate I had thrown off. Jaal and Liam finished off the last three.

I opened the door and jumped over a labyrinth of pipes.

"Getting the hand of all this, right?" Liam asked.

"Cycling power for doors ahead, but it seals the one behind you," Augie informed us.

"We're not turning back anyway."

I jumped onto some tubing that jutted out in just the right way.

"Our luck is bound to fail anytime now, Liam," I warned.

I ran over the tubes.

"Look, somethings you have to count on. Skill, purpose, allies. We have them all in spades," Liam replied too nonchalantly to my liking. _You don't solely count on those things or you end up dead._

"They're bunkered in the next room, Pathfinder," the woman echoed. "Sniper, maybe two. And... I think, cages?"

I opened the door in front of us, jumping down onto the ground before any of the pirates could get a decent shot at me. I fired into some charging adhi.

"Have to take out that sniper!" Jaal called.

"Fine!" I yelled before charging head first into the fray. I took out the saboteur with my biotics then felt my shielding go down. _Crap._ I launched myself into the sniper and kicked him down from his vantage point. I hid behind cover, throwing biotic spears until my shields had regenerated.

"Clear!"

"Door's open, Pathfinder," Augie said.

I turned and went through the now opened door into an area filled with over turned crates.

"That's them! Seal the bulkhead!"

"Now's our chance! Take them!"

I looked at the mechs entering the room and groaned. _Why can't I take just one break?_ I quickly changed profiles to adventurer and dove behind cover. I saw red beams of light flash above my head. I shot off a ball of fiery synthetic at one of the mechs before warping into cover again.

"Jaal! Get to higher ground and shoot at their sensors while me and Liam distract it!" I commanded to the angara I couldn't see. I heard a grunt of approval.

I popped out of cover to fire a round into the hard shell of the mechanical beast followed by a lance of biotic energy to the smoldering mech that was trying to surround me. I warped to the side and quickly grabbed some ammo from a container. The boom of a rifle shot echoed in the room. More beams of red traced over my position and I quickly threw a sticky grenade attached to my belt at the advancing Hydra. I heard two explosions. _One down, another to go._

A pained yell echoed in the room and I saw Liam getting grabbed by the mech. _He got too close! That idiot!_ I shot at the mech, waving my arms to distract it from the man in its claws. I heard a crack of Jaal's rifle and the arm holding Liam went limp. The man fell to the floor with a dull thud. _Crap!_

I shot at inferno at the mech before running to Liam. The Hydra sparked from the damage. I threw my biotics at it and I heard the explosion. I tugged the unconscious man to me. The mech jerked awkwardly. I threw up a biotic barrier around the two of us before the Hydra exploded. The area was clear with only debris from the battle encircling us.

"Liam! Liam! You sure as hell better get up!" I yelled shaking the man slightly. He groaned in dismay at my disturbance. I heard Jaal walking up behind me.

"Ryder, you have to give him some medi-gel," Jaal spoke calmly.

"I know!" I snapped.

My fingers fumbled at the clip holding the canister. The canister released and I spread some of the gel onto his wounds. _Don't you dare stay like that!_ I heard another groan coming from Liam before his chest stopped heaving up and down. My eyes widened in shock. My hands shook violently. I looked up at Jaal.

"He's not breathing. Jaal, He's not breathing!"

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **Tehee, cliff hanger! This is how much I love you guys!**

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 **-MeanE**


	18. Injuries Galore

"He's not breathing. Jaal, He's not breathing!"

My hands shook with anxiety. My eyes were wide as I stared down at my emotionless companion. _He's going to die! Think Sara! Think!_

"Pathfinder, I recommend performing CPR at this time," SAM echoed.

I took a deep breath and nodded. My shaking hands went down to his neck, fingers held against the artery. _Keep calm Sara. Just think. What artery are you checking? Carotid artery._ I felt the weak thrum of a pulse beneath the pads of my fingers. Jaal knelt beside me, a hand on my shoulder.

 _Okay, pulse weak. I already stopped the bleeding with the medi-gel._ My hands lowered down to the man's sternum. I straightened my elbows and began pressing down on his chest. _One. Two._

Jaal stared at my procedure, his eyes gleaming with curiosity. _Jaal needs to do something. Maybe he can prepare an overload. Use it as a makeshift defribrillator!_

"Jaal, I need you to set up an overload on your omni-tool," I commanded. _Fifteen. Sixteen._

"How?" _Seventeen. Eighteen._

"SAM, tell him. Now." _Nineteen. Twenty._

I went back to my task as SAM droned on about how to set up an overload. _Come on Liam. Just a little more. Twenty-nine. Thirty!_

I moved my hands to his head and tilted it upwards. I looked down at his chest. _No movement._ I held my ear above his mouth. _Still not breathing!_ I looked over to see Jaal and his omni-tool still getting ready. _Sorry Liam._

I clamped his nose shut before performing mouth-to-mouth on him. Jaal seemed to momentarily freeze in his task before looking away. I moved away from Liam and checked his chest again. No movement. My hands went to his neck. _No pulse! Crap, crap, crap!_

"Jaal are you ready?" I asked over my shoulder, preparing for more compressions.

"Yes!" Jaal replied now at my side with his readied overload.

I took my hands off of Liam and moved away. _I hope this works!_ Jaal extended his omni-tool and let loose a shock that shook Liam's body. I went back to Liam's side. His body shook for a moment before I heard coughing coming from the man. Liam sat up from his position, giving a wince in pain at the movement.

"So, what did I miss?" Liam asked with a small smile.

I narrowed my eyes at the man. "Me nearly having a heart attack," I responded sarcastically.

He chuckled softly at my comment. "Yeah, sorry about that Ryder."

I clasped hands with Liam and pulled his body up into a standing position. He gave out a small wince. _Probably got a few ribs broken when the mech grabbed him along with the normal scratches, bruises, and bullet wounds we normally get during a mission._

Liam walked forward, disguising his pain with a straight face. "Hit the interface, Ryder. I need to know what happened on the other side of that door," He commanded.

I did as he asked and heard a crackle over the comm. "Hello? Anyone alive out there?" a female voice called out.

"We are alive, luckily," I sent a small glare at Liam who winced in pain again despite his efforts not to. "You're Initiative? Where'd you come from?"

"Trading ship out of Kadara. You're Nexus?" _Ah, Outcasts. How I love them so._

"Pathfinder Sara Ryder from Ark Hyperion," I told her.

"Holy shit! An ark showed?"

Liam sat down on some crates next to me and I saw his face relax as the strain was removed from his wounds. "Is Verand all right?" He asked into his comm.

I heard some movement over the comm before an angaran female began speaking. "Liam? What are you doing here?"

Liam shook his head, a dark look in his eyes. "Didn't want you getting killed over what I told you."

"I'd never give that up. Not that it matters. Calot hasn't asked anything."

Liam and I exchanged questioning looks.

The trader spoke up, "He dumped her in here same as us. We're all just labor. Half the ship is our handiwork."

"So, he captured Initiative first?" I asked.

"He isn't picky. Everyone is 'keeping him down'. Everyone is 'going to pay'," She responded casually. "The ship rolled up and we surrendered. Seemed smart at the time."

"Then why did he capture you guys? To fix this thing?"

"He wanted to ransom us, but this ship is draining him. It's a wreck."

I scoffed. _Wreck is an understatement._

"He had to go back to scavenging to keep it afloat so he put us to work," Verand added on.

Liam shrugged from his seat, "Found a project car, didn't count on maintenance."

"We had help, but we need more in order to get to Calot and blow this piece of shit up. Can you open the door?" I asked.

"I think Dace was working on those systems before all this happened," Verand said after a moment.

"Hang on," static intercepted the comm before the trader's voice returned, "I've got the override, but we need power. Fault's on their side."

"You hear that? Turn on the power from your side," Verand repeated in more simplistic terms.

Liam got off his seat with a small grunt, "On it. We'll get you out."

I walked towards the right side of the room.

"Augie, did you get all of that?" Liam asked.

"Kuriada, can you get them a path?"

"Allow me," Kuriada said over comm. I looked upwards and saw a door open. I immediately ran forward through the upside-down door, still ignoring the pain of my ankle.

"There's a problem," Verand said over comm, "There's a problem. Dace says the override only pulls the lock."

"Meaning?"

"It lets the door open under its own weight, but it's upside-down."

"So, it's gravity held. You get that, Augie? Gravity!" Liam repeated.

I ran down the hallway and ignored their chatter. I jumped onto a jutting ledge before jumping through the next doorway.

"All right, Pathfinder. You have the button. Power, override, and hang on," Augie explained to me.

I nodded slightly before helping Liam through the entrance. I made sure everyone was accounted for. Then I heard some whistling behind me.

"No whistling," I snapped.

"Aw," Liam replied sadly. "Fun killer."

I scoffed slightly at him. _Fun killer he says. Jaal is the fun killer. Calot is the fun killer. The whole Angaran race is the fun killer!_ I walked to the console and interfaced with it. The room quaked and I was thrown onto the floor below me.

Liam began to wheezed for a moment. _Is he trying to laugh or did that fall just knock the wind out?_

"Ladies and gentlemen, your exit vehicle will be at the nearest airlock," Augie said in a smooth voice. I heard people running over head.

"You old ham," Liam replied with a smile on his face.

"Tanner will evac, but we can't have Calot chasing us."

"Where is the space pirate?" I asked while running towards the flight of stairs.

"Engine control. Past where they held the captives," a refined female voice answered.

"Right. Final stretch to put stop to Calot. After all this, I just have one thing to say," Liam said in between his breathing. "Proud of all our people, Ryder. Let's do this."

We entered into a wide hall that ended with a door. I smiled. _This will be easy._

"Fine, take them! I'll chase you down and burn you where you live!" Calot yelled at us in his comm. "My Talon wing will never let you sleep!"

The door opened to a smaller room with four enemies.

"Inducted coolant systems?" Kuriada laughed, "Override."

The pirates died with an explosion of icy air. I turned towards the single remaining pirate and lazily launched a lance of biotics. I ran to the door at the opposite side of the room.

"Set co-ordinates to Eos! What do you mean, 'it's not responding'?" Calot screamed. _Is he seriously throwing a tantrum?_

I ran through the next hallway with Liam and Jaal following closely behind me.

"Pushing power to open doors ahead. Hope you're not having second thoughts!" Kuriada informed us.

The door opened and I walked in with my shotgun drawn. It was a huge room with two stories per the usual. A purple angara with green armor stood above us wielding an assault rifle, Calot.

"Get a ship full with shooters and I'm still disrespected! Fine. Fine!" Calot yelled in frustration.

I frowned in disappointment, "I'd thought you would at least have a peg leg. Maybe even a bird or a monkey or a pyjak. I'll forgive you a little if you come down and talk with me."

Calot raised his rifle and I gave him a glare. "No one is taking anything away from me ever again, Pathfinder! I'll kill you myself!"

A shield immediately formed around the angara and I dove into cover as bullets whizzed at us.

"He's got a pet!" Liam yelled at his cover.

"And a shield pulling straight from the drive core! Hold on! We'll try to hack it!" Augie yelled.

 _Crap. This just got pretty bad._

"Liam! You stay out of fire, you hear! I'll be the front lines, you hold the back with Jaal!" I commanded into our comm channel. I shot a lance at one of the pirates heading towards Liam's position.

A lengthy pause filled with gunfire filled the comms before Liam gave an affirmative.

"Found a weakness! Hit the marked console!" Kuriada commanded.

I ran forward to the console, leaving Liam and Jaal in their position. I heard the distant roar of Calot's pet combine with the breaking of my shields. _Crap!_ Suddenly a burning feeling was emanating from my right side and I saw a sickly green goo popping as it burned through my armor and skin. I clenched my teeth in pain. _Can't let them know! I can't let them know or else they'll run straight to the danger._

I heard the echo of Jaal's rifle and Calot's pet fell to the ground mid-charge.

"No! That fiend was mine! It's all mine!" Calot yelled like a child. "Reinforcements! Now!"

A pirate ran down the stairs straight towards me and I quickly shot him down. Then another one came and I was being swarmed. The men and women charged at me, circling me with their rifles pointed. I slammed my fist into the ground and some went flying. I grimaced in pain as I felt blood leak out of the right side of my face and upper body.

A new set of pirates came at me and I fired rounds into their chests. I was grabbed from behind by one. My body reacted instantly and I bent over to easily throw him off of me. He landed on the floor and I fired two shots into his chest.

"Progress, but Calot's still getting power! Where to?" Liam called once the first console was finished.

"Hold on in there! We're looking for another weak spot!"

"Don't take long!" Liam warned.

I saw some more pirates run down the stairs and I grunted in annoyance. I threw a lance at one before walking to the other and simply shooting him. _Today can't get any worse._

"Got it! Liam do you see?" Augie asked over comm.

"Second console! Ryder, let's shut him down!" Liam said with a determined voice.

I got out of cover and saw a pirate running across the room. I charged at him with a grimace on my face. My whole right-side burst into pain with my biotics. _Shit, this is not good. Really not good!_ I ran to the console I was told about, my wounds slowing me down slightly.

I interfaced with the tech and the hordes of pirates came at me again.

"Send adhi! Send it all!" Calot commanded from his perch. I groaned slightly in pain and annoyance.

Jaal and Liam ran to my position each with a few new cuts and bruises, but nothing serious. I drew out my Krogan hammer and turn towards the approaching pirates. Something changed in their actions when they saw my battered appearance combined with an annoyed scowl that graced my lips. They seemed to become over confident and cocky. _I'll change that._

"I'll cage you, make your people what I was! Nothing!" Calot taunted.

I swung my hammer down on my first victim and his skull caved in. I pulled the hammer out with a sickening squelch. Bullets pierced the air and I pulled out my shotgun, kicking down incoming adhi and shooting the pirates.

"Drive core… redirected!"

I grinned widely and charged into the crowd despite the pain I was in.

"That's his shield! Calot's shield is down!" Liam shouted. I heard the two charging forward with me. I shot down the pirates trying to stop me. Finally, I launched myself into Calot, effectively knocking him down and off his feet.

"I'm the captain now, Calot," I grinned before sending a round of my ammo into his chest.

Everything was silent except for my teams heaving breathing. I felt all the pains come crashing down on me and I fell to my knees. Darkness edged into my vision. I shook my head to try to clear it, but the darkness spread and I felt the cold metal ground pressing against my cheek.

 _Today can't get any worse. Right?_

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **Next chapter is down for the count! Whoohoo! Thanks for all you guys for reading and otherwise looking at my story. Also thanks for the favorites and follows!**

 **Reviews:**

 **Fruityloops87: That's so sweet of you! Thank you for the compliment.**

 **-MeanE**


	19. Blast-Oh No's

I groaned as consciousness returned to me. _What the hell happened and why can't I feel the right side of my face?_ My eyes opened and I groaned again as the dim light caused daggers of pain to stab into my head. I heard a smooth voice enter my ears followed by a higher pitched one. I turned my head to see Lexi talking to a salarian in similar white and red attire. _Doctor?_

Lexi caught my eye and immediately rushed to my side. I began to speak, but her cold glare stopped me. The salarian from earlier left us to our business.

"Ryder, a broken ankle, gunshot wounds, a minor concussion, partial blindness in one eye, all combined with second and third degree burns across your upper right torso and face. Do you really want to die that badly?" her calm voice rang with unspoken fury. _Shit._

"Um… sorry?" I responded weakly.

"Sorry?" She laughed slightly, "All you have to say is sorry?"

I remained silent.

"We had to use skin grafts to reduce the scarring and put cybernetics into your right eye to reduce your blindness. Let's mention your team while we're at it, shall we? Liam thinks that your hospitalization is his fault, Cora is getting stressed over the prospect of you dying and becoming the next Pathfinder, Peebee is distancing herself again because you aren't around anymore, Drack is acting like you're his kid and has been trying to vent out his rage, Vetra is camping in her room eating Blast-ohs, and Jaal…" Lexi sighed and shook her head in disappointment.

I felt my eyebrow quirk upward and something in my chest seemed to ache. "What about Jaal?" I asked warily.

Lexi remained silent.

"Lexi, please," I begged.

She shook her head again before relenting. "I don't know. He seems to have entered a relationship with Friela during your absence, but he doesn't seem to care about that fact."

I felt like I was drowning. I cleared my head, but the drowning feeling remained. I sat up from my position with a small amount of pain piercing my torso. Lexi tried to push me back down. A small glare stopped her.

"Lexi, give me a mirror. I want to see the damage."

She went to a nightstand and rifled through the drawers. I watched as she held a mirror in her hands for a moment before giving it to me. I braced myself before looking into it.

It was just as Lexi said. My skin on the right side of my face was a bit ragged, but skin grafts helped smoothen the creasing. A bandage covered a portion of the skin not entirely healed. My right eye was its normal crystal blue hue. Light blue lines laced my iris and were barely noticeable if not looked too closely. I gave her the mirror and stood.

"I'm going to the _Tempest._ No need to worry anyone any more than I need to," I replied nonchalantly.

I walked out of the room with Lexi trailing behind me silently.

* * *

I walked into the _Tempest_ with a small smile on my face. _Might as well be approachable._ The bay was empty. I frowned. _Where are they? I sent out a message that the_ Tempest _was going to depart._ I went over to Vetra's room. I heard a shuffle coming from inside. _So, Vetra was eating away her problems according to Lexi. I hope it's not too-_

The door opened and my eyes widened in shock.

Vetra stood in the middle of the room trying to hide the mountain of empty Blast-ohs boxes under her sputtered for a moment before pushing me out of the room and locking the door. I stood there for a second with my mouth ajar. _What the hell just happened?_

I moved away from her room and made my way to Liam's room. I frowned when the door's control shone crimson. _Please don't tell me Lexi understated all of their problem._ I placed an ear to the door. Faint whimpering could be heard inside and I could only assume it was an after effect of Liam crying himself to sleep. _She did._

I sprinted up to the second floor. Once in the hall connecting Jaal's and Cora's room, I heard odd noises coming from Jaal's room. I frowned. _Is he dissecting another one of his dead pets?_ Another thought entered my mind, but I quickly brushed it away when the air caught in my chest. I opened the door and was not prepared for what I saw, yet again might I add.

Jaal was sandwiched between the wall and Friela who was, in my own opinion, sexually assaulting him. I felt something twinge within me. I automatically suppressed a memory that I would rather not revisit at the sight of Jaal's forced submission. My lips pressed together into a thin line as I saw her continue to kiss him. I felt the soft hum of energy on my skin as my biotics reacted to my rampant emotions. I suppressed them.

"What the hell is going on here?" I ground out between clenched teeth.

Friela and Jaal separated. Jaal had an oddly straight face. Friela on the other hand seemed outraged from my interference.

"I am showing my devotion to Jaal," she scowled at me. _Are you trying to challenge me?_

I smiled bitterly, "Really? I never would have known with Jaal's straight face."

 _That was a terrible insult, Sara. Two out of ten. Boo._

Despite the cheap insult, something snapped in her and Friela marched up to me with a dark look on her face. Jaal remained in the background with his eyes looking back and forth between the two of us. A calculating look entered his eyes. _Is he seriously trying to figure out who would win?_

Suddenly, she backed down. Her eyes glistened slightly with defiance, but she didn't act on it. _Seems that she is useful for things that don't involve ogling Jaal…_

 _But she's still a bitch._

"If you two are going to do anything, keep it off my fucking ship," I said with a hard glare.

Friela pouted in anger slightly before giving a short nod of her head. _Did Jaal seriously get with such a childish person? Wait… He did get with me._ I frowned at my thoughts.

I looked to Jaal. His eyes were cold. His stance was rigid. He kept his eyes on my own rather than trailing over to his "companion". _Is she just a lost puppy to him? A way to entertain rather than an actual lover?_ I felt a bitterness over take me. _Was that me?_

"Friela, can you leave so that I can talk to Jaal?" I blurted out.

Friela looked between us for a moment, reluctant to leave. She turned with a small nod of her head and left the room. My attention went back to Jaal. He walked over to his bed and sat down at the edge of it. I slowly walked after him. His elbows rested on his knees while his hands supported his head.

"What was that?" I asked in a calm that hid a flurry of anger slowly building within me.

His head snapped up and his eyes met mine. A cold frost had come into the room and I felt the goosebumps rise of my unprotected arms. I looked at the man.

Although his face was straight I could see the broken look in his eyes, a slump in his shoulders from an invisible weight. I felt an urge to reach out to him, but I held back. _He's the one who broke you. He's the one who left you despite your own pleas._ I moved my hands behind me and held them there. _I can't give in now. I can't give in ever._

"Friela and I are together now," he stated it like a boring historical fact.

"I can tell that much by the way you two were…" I didn't finish that sentence. I couldn't let my voice crack when I finished that sentence. My eyes fell to the floor for a second before looking back into Jaal's sky blue eyes.

A slight lift of his lips and he was standing in front of me. A few centimeters separated us. I felt my heart beat quicken slightly.

"Yes, we are together. Yes, she is the one I want to be with. I've known her even before she joined my squad and she has become a beloved companion of mine," Jaal stated resolutely.

A frown tugged at my lips and my throat clogged, but I stood there. I stared at him, looking for a fault to tell me something different. Something that wasn't what he just said to me. Nothing changed in his face or stance. No twitch. No shift.

I nodded slightly. "If that is your decision, so be it," I gave him a glare, "However, if this relationship interferes in any missions I will take action."

"I understand."

"Good." _Because I don't._

I turned and left him.

The lump remained in my throat as I walked up to the bridge and put in the co-ordinates for Meridian. Kallo gave me the ETA of two and a half days before arrival. I left the bridge soon after and went to my room feeling the need to do so many things in so little time.

I shook my head and collapsed in bed. My clogged throat worsened. I felt a warm flow of fluid begin to streak down my cheeks. _He hurt me. He left me._

 _But why am I crying still?_

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **Yes, yes, yes. I know. Extremely late. I have my reasons (Band camp is evil, writers block, etc.), but that is still no excuse. I'm sorry for that... and more... I'll do my best to keep on updating despite these problems though so thank you for sticking it out this far!**

 **Fruityloops87: Thank you! I can't wait to hear more from you and many others!**

 **Thank you for reading, reviewing, and/or following. It's just nice knowing you guys are there... still!**

 **-MeanE**


	20. Skydiving into Meridian

I felt fingers begin to tug on my armor. Readjusting the straps slightly. Peebee walked in front of me and picked up her pistol from the table, Jaal at her side.

"Ryder, looks like a flyby is our only option," Kallo spoke over comm. "I'll get as low as possible, but you'll have to eject over the target area."

"It's fine. I've done this a million times before," I shrugged nonchalantly. Peebee's lips curled into a smile.

"Heard about your freefall to Habitat 7. Liam said he could hear you screaming the whole way down," Gil spoke from behind me. Jaal and Peebee turned to look at me.

"I'm sure that he was the one screaming. You know how he is," I waved my hand slightly. The two returned to their business.

Gil finished adjusting my finicky armor and walked into my peripheral vision. "All right, you know the drill. Watch your rate of descent. Shields should take care of the rest."

Gil left us and we all began to walk towards the exit of the Mako bay. Jaal's team stood at the exit already with their gear prepared.

"So far so good. The kett haven't detected us," Suvi informed us.

"But once we go in, we'll be clear as day to any troops on the ground," Kallo added. _Always the Debbie downer in these situations._

"The tempest can take some fire if necessary," I respond before holstering my shotgun.

"Some, not many."

"That's all we need."

I heard the doors open and the large angular remnant structures greeted each of us. Each one bathed in a blue hue with orange lights coming from the cracks within each one. _Don't look at the view, Sara. You'll get distracted long enough for the kett to spot you._

I ran forward and jumped off the open ramp with the two teams trailing behind me. My biotics slowed down the descent and I landed rather gracefully onto the ground. Seven more thuds resounded behind me before the _Tempest_ sped off.

"Everyone fine?" I asked looking behind me.

Peebee was lying on her back for a moment before sitting up. She scratched the back of her head with a slight wince. "I bumped my head, but I'm good."

Jaal's team remained silent.

"My team can survey the current area while Kalaar's group can go ahead and give us the number of enemies we are dealing with. Only contact with them once my team gets there or when I give the order," I commanded with slightly narrowed eyes looking at each person. They all nodded in agreement before surging ahead of us.

"I am detecting active conduits nearby. Your scanner should be picking them up," SAM said in his usual monotone.

I did as he said and opened my scanner to see a string of yellow underneath the floor. I followed the conduits down a ramp, a soft trickle of water hitting my cheek. _Wait. Water?_

"Is it raining?" I asked looking up. No clouds. No blue sky. Only the dark space and twinkling lights shining above.

I continued down the ramps and saw a huge open expanse ahead of us, a door stood on the other side. I dead panned. Kalaar and his team stood there looking at the area. Grahl peered down his sights to see how far the fall was from the platform. _I hope Friela doesn't, I don't know, trip and plunge to her death. I mean, no one would really miss her._

"The _Tempest_ could have dropped us over there," I sighed quietly.

I scanned the conduits again and interfaced with a remnant console they connected to. Friela and Grahl jumped backwards in surprise as a bridge materialized from thin air. I ran down the ramp and onto the bridge, watching the blue lights dance in the air as the bridge formed beneath me and my companions.

"Pathfinder, while interacting with that console, I detected the presence of a complex network connected via a central command hub," SAM drawled.

"A central command hub? The controls to Meridian?" I asked, slowing my pace down slightly to let both teams catch up with me.

"Most likely. However, the hub is dark. Deactivated."

"They will never make it easy for me, will they," I said under my breath as I opened the door. "Guess this means we have to find the central hub."

I walked into a hallway illuminated by the same orange glow that the rest of Meridian seemed to have adopted. The blue lights of an active console contrasted against the homely glow. I walked towards it and activated the technology.

The door in front of me opened to reveal the outside spires bathed in a blue hue. Every symmetrical building seemed to put me at ease with its beauty. My body relaxed for a moment before tensing again at the sight of the orange pulse of energy surging from two towers below us.

"Pathfinder, we are looking at the central command hub I detected earlier. As with the monoliths and vaults, the hub is connected to the two neighboring towers," SAM intoned.

"Activate the towers, activate the command hub," I shrugged.

Jaal walked up beside me with Peebee. His gaze was locked onto the view outside of the door way. "Change of plan? I say we activate Meridian," his eyes locked on my own, "now." _Patience is a virtue. Albeit one I rarely uphold._

Peebee shifted at his side, "What about the kett?"

"Activating a vault has previously activated a purification field. Perhaps Meridian is similar," SAM replied.

"Then let's go and see what we can find," I responded before turning and heading down the gravity well.

* * *

The kett we encountered seemed to drop like flies with our squads combined. _It won't last long._ I cringed slightly as a kett had his head blown apart right next to me, green blood splattered my blue and black armor yet again. I slammed a biotics infused fist into the last kett and heard "Clear" shouted from Jaal.

I looked around and saw two paths diverging from our current one.

"Which way do we go?" Peebee asked.

I frowned for a moment. "Kalaar's team go left. My own team will go right. Contact us over comm if you encounter any remnant console you need activated or any serious problems," I command.

Friela nodded and her team walked away from us. Grahl turned for a slight moment to look at Peebee before turning away with a smile on each of their faces. I blinked for a moment. _Did Peebee just giggle? Oh, stars._

I shook away any rogue thoughts and pointed my own team forward up the ramps. Our path being illuminated by orange lights. The path turned and we saw crates with the kett design there.

"Kett equipment. They had everything set up to study this place."

Some static came up over comm before I heard the annoying trill of Friela's voice. "We found some scourge on this side along with kett that were taken out by remnant."

"Okay, keep out of sight and as far away from the scourge if you can. Remember, contact if you need me and SAM to activate the tech," I said with slight irritation.

"Yes, Pathfinder."

The comm went silent and I continued hiking up the remnant ramps. A huge spindly form was shadowed at the crest of the hill. I jogged forward a bit before stopping at the base of the form.

"Whoa! Plants!" Peebee exclaimed as she jogged to me.

"How are they growing here?" Jaal asked in confusion. _They get water from the "rain", there is no earth… so they mutated to grow on metal? I don't know. I'm not a biologist, but I do have SAM._ I unsheathed the scanner and took a quick scan before being interrupted by SAM.

"Shuttle incoming," he informed.

I nodded, biotics flaring, and shotgun expanding within my hands. I jumped off our platform, landing on the steel floor rather than one of the mangled roots covering it. The whole room was covered in the plants and someone tripping while in this battle was extremely likely. _Especially since Peebee's here._

"Be careful of the plants. One wrong step and you'll get a twisted ankle, shot down, or mauled because you tripped," I advised my team mates. They both nodded with serious expressions.

I walked forward a few more steps before hearing the guttural roar of a fiend around the corner. I cursed before firing off a few rounds into its hard bone armor. I heard some smaller growls chorus after it. _This is getting better and better._

"Jaal get up that platform and take out the smaller guys while me and Peebee take care of the fiend!" I commanded over the roar of my own adrenaline.

I fired off some more rounds into the shelled beast, leading him away from our sniper. I heard a snap of his rifle and the whimper as one of the wraiths was killed. I smiled. _Let's go big boy!_

* * *

I grunted as one of the kett heavies decided to ram into me with his mini-gun. I quickly punched him in the chest with a biotic infused chest before sending him flying off the platform we stood on. I heard a pistol firing and the thump of another body. I turned to see Peebee standing triumphantly over a wraith corpse. Jaal was looking over the edge of our platform at what I assumed was a kett camp.

"Good spot for an ambush," Jaal murmured. I nodded in agreement and walked to a console before activating it. A turret came to life on another platform nearby.

I jumped down to the lower level, pushing myself forward with some biotics before running up a ramp. The door opened into a hallway. _Stupid hallways, keep on building suspense that I don't like._ I opened the door at the end of the hallway into a giant room. I saw the enemies before they did and charged straight at them.

"Big guns! Watch out!" Jaal shouted.

I ignored him and fired a round into the kett grunt sprawled on the floor in front of me.

"I detect working remnant technology. We could turn that against them," SAM intoned.

I nodded with a smile and charged into another kett closest to the remnant console SAM mentioned.

"Jaal keep them off of me while I activate this fella!" I commanded before placing my hand on the console.

A few destined tried sneaking up on me only to be ended by one of Jaal's bullets. I finished just in time for two wraiths one destined and two normal kett grunts to try surrounding me. I smiled wickedly before slamming my fist into the steel ground and sending each one flying away from me with my biotics. I charged to a destined on the opposite balcony only to have my kill stolen by the remnant turret I had powered up. My lip curled slightly into a frown. _I don't appreciate my kills being stolen._

"Look out! Reinforcements!" Jaal called. I felt my brows furrow in irritation.

I threw a bolt of biotics into a kett heavy. The shields shattered and Jaal took that moment to fire a bolt into the creature's head. I heard the roar of another mini-gun from the opposite balcony and sighed before running up the ramp. I threw another lance of biotics that caused the heavy to fall.

"That should be the last of them for now," I smiled slightly in relief before turning to the door that stood behind me and opened it. Jaal and Peebee ran up to stand beside me, each one curious as to what was behind the doors.

Within was a room, a rather dark room, that was only illuminated by the soft orange lights on the floor and the bioluminescent mushrooms around us. A light glow came from the center of the nearly pitch-black room. _A console?_

"I have seen organisms like this, on Havarl," Jaal said while walking up to one of the mushrooms. I could hear his brows lowering in confusion. I took a quick scan of the mushrooms before continuing on. _I'll look at them later._

My feet took me forward, my hands spread out to make sure I didn't somehow hit a wall. Something caught my foot and I tripped onto the hard floor. I groaned in pain and heard Peebee stifle a laugh from behind me in the lit-up corridor.

"It's really dark in here," I supplied with an annoyed voice. Peebee continued to smile as I used, what I think is the console, to climb back onto my feet. I felt the indents in the hard metal beneath my hand and felt the console slowly begin to activate.

The lighting slowly increased. My team walked into the room while I walked over to my left to see the inside of one of the pods light up.

"What the hell!" I yelled before jogging over to the pod. A light purple angara laid there with open cerulean eyes instead of the normal deep blue eyes. My brows furrowed as I held my palm against the pods exterior to scan the angara.

"Translating," SAM paused. "'Pattern One-Three. Viability: 56.2%. Genetic template transmitted for testing.'" _Genetic template?_

"They were doing… things to the angara," Jaal walked up behind me into the now bright room.

"We can't conclude that yet, Jaal. We don't know the whole story," I explained calmly.

"Really?" Jaal asked with anger beginning to seep into his voice. "Because the last time we saw something like this, the kett were turning us into them!" _No, not another fight. Not again. I'm so tired of fighting with him._

I put a hand to my scarred cheek and rubbed it slightly. "SAM, can I get an analysis?"

"It appears that these beings are not angara. They are not even alive."

Jaal's eyes turned seemed to lose their harshness and turned soft in sadness as he walked up to one of the pods and placed a hand against it, "I don't understand. They look so…" I felt my heart reaching out to him, but my arm did not reply to that plea.

"The Remnant language refers to these bodies as genetic templates."

"A blueprint. Similar to the plants we saw. Not completed, just being tested," I felt the pieces slowly coming together.

"The angara… we came from here? They… created us? Why?" Jaal had walked away from the pod, but that lost expression remained on his face. My heart reached out to him once more, this time my body acting on its request.

I stood next to him, a hand placed gently on his shoulder. I looked at his turned head, "It doesn't matter why or where. You are who you are. The past does not change the person I see now."

His head bowed slightly. Voice shaking, he spoke, "True. And we still face the same conflicts. I just… I-I feel as though something shifted. I-I need to think. I need to speak with the Moshae."

Jaal walked away from me, shaking his head. My lips pulled into a deep frown as my heart clenched. _Stupid heart is going to get you hurt!_

"So, Meridian can create life. What if the Archon can make it do the opposite? Destroy life?" Peebee hypothesized.

Jaal stopped in his movements before turning back towards us. A look of determination covered up his original sorrow. "It's up to us to make sure that doesn't happen."

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **Yeah, I know I'm late. Hopefully my mess of a schedule will even out eventually... which is unlikely, but that is no excuse so ill continue to try my best to update on time.**

 **Patient Guest: Thanks for your patience and approval of my story. Made me smile a bit.**

 **ASAP Guest: Hahahahaha, you're funny. No. If I did that it would be confusing and just one of those, "Why would you do that? It was too easy. I don't think relationships repair that easily..."**

 **Thank you for the reviews, favorites, and just looking at my story. It brightens my day to see people reading this stuff. (despite how mushy it can get)**

 **-MeanE**


	21. Too Many Remnant, Not Enough Space!

"Hey, Jaal. You know, if you… want to talk, about… the stuff you found out, I'm here," Peebee managed. _So, she can care for all of us despite her commitment issues._

"Are you reaching out because I am now considered a Remnant curiosity?" Jaal asked coldly. His back turned away from us as he fired at an observer. _That was uncalled for._

"What? No! No. I didn't mean it like that!" Peebee cried.

I heard a breathy laugh coming from the man and he turned, a bright smile pulling on his lips. "Got you. You should see your face," Jaal said.

"Jaal!" Peebee replied in a complainant voice.

I smiled and shook my head at their antics before walking towards a tree in a planter. My scanner activated.

"I've seen trees like this, but not exactly like this, on Aya. Perhaps this is a prototype, like the angara we saw," Jaal called from behind me. I shrugged.

We ran into the first room containing the pods. Each of us looked up in awe at the hundreds of pods around us.

"Stars. There must be hundreds… why are this many of them here?" Jaal asked with bitterness.

"It's just incredible," Peebee responded.

I nodded silently, opening the door with my omni-tool. The door opened. A hum permeated the air and I saw blue lights surging up the walls, signaling the power coming back on. I jumped down the raised platform to the other side of the room.

"It's working! The entire city's coming back to life!" Jaal exclaimed, barely keeping up with my pace.

"Kalaar? My team has activated the first tower. Coming to your point," I said into the comm.

Nothing.

"Kalaar? Come in. Talk to us buddy!"

The silence struck us like a bolt of lightning.

"This isn't good," Peebee said with wide eyes.

"We need to get to my team!" Jaal yelled at me.

"Then let's go! Now!" I yelled back, punching in the door's controls.

The door opened to absolute chaos. The whole platform was swarming with Kett, an ascendant leading the charge. I growled slightly before launching off into the chest of a kett grunt.

"This is looking ugly! We're in trouble here!" Peebee yelled over the gunfire.

I slammed my fist into the ground, sending the kett flying away. The anointed came at me and I shot a few rounds into the orb floating around him before diving into cover. I saw an electric blue haze fall over my hiding spot and dove out of it just in time to see six bullet holes where I used to be.

"We won't last much longer!" Jaal shouted.

 _I know! Just let me think!_

"Jaal take out the ascendants orb from over there! Peebee, a singularity in that group right next to me would be great! Stay away from them while I charge at the ascendant!" I commanded.

The singularity appeared and managed to drag away five grunts. I punched one with my biotic infused fist causing all the kett to fly away. I landed next to the ascendant, both of our shields down. I looked the thing straight in the eye before firing into its chest. It yelled in pain before falling to the ground. I fell to my knees for a moment, breathing raspy and short. _You used too much, Sara. You did too much. Don't over exert yourself._

I got back up on shaky legs, firing down a random wraith before continuing our trek forward.

* * *

Gunfire echoed in the halls as me and my team hid behind a short wall. The kett and remnant were fighting each other and I decided to let them kill one another. I heard an explosion. My head peaked around the wall and saw the fiery remains of the turret. Everything was quiet. I nodded at Jaal and Peebee before charging ahead into a remnant bot. Jaal took out the other remaining robot.

I looked up at the dark energy surrounding our platform.

"That is probably what the other team was talking about," I said in slight awe.

"Impossible. It looks like… incredible," Jaal murmured.

"Detecting high levels of scourge energy be careful," SAM warned.

I nodded and ran forward, jumping over a large hole in the pathway while avoiding the scourge.

"Pathfinder, it appears the energy waves from these craters contributed to the scourge throughout Heleus," SAM intoned again.

My eyebrow raised as I scanned a scourge energy pocket. "Whatever happened here caused the scourge to go across all of the cluster?"

"Yes, Pathfinder."

I ran down a ramp and dove behind cover. I heard the fire of a sniper rifle in front of me. I heard shouts and the explosion of a turret. A cry rang out in the air and more gunfire. _Is that Kalaar's team?_

I ran out of cover past the scourge around me. My body pulsed with biotic energy as I surged into an assembler on the next story up. It gave out a robotic cry as I pummeled it with my Krogan hammer.

I heard pounding feet on the ground below and saw Jaal running towards a downed angara, blood gushing from its leg. I looked to my right and saw Kalaar leaning on the barrier, breathing heavy, and rifle held close to his body. I held out my hand to him. He took it and we worked together to get him back on his feet. He winced slightly from the shift, but walked it off.

I jumped down stairs and saw Jaal applying medi-gel to the wounded angara, Friela. She winced slightly. I looked at the other balcony and saw Grahl and Yefran rising up together. I saw blood running down Grahl's face and the way his left eye was shut. _Ouch. Their team is in ruins, absolute disrepair. I need to protect them while in battle. That will be hard._ I growled. Everyone was gathered in front of me. Helping the wounded or being tended to.

"Kalaar's team, you need to either get out of here or wait in the hallway outside of the second tower's room. There is no way in hell any of you guys are dying on us," I commanded. Each person turned to me with an argument in their gaze.

"Argue and I'll break your legs," I ground out. _I was trying to protect them and this is what I get?_

They remained quiet as I made my way to the remnant console, opening the door into the hallway. Each person piled into the room. Jaal set Friela gently down on the floor. I shook my head and continued into the next room with Jaal and Peebee.

"Look at all this Remnant stuff! It's like my birthday!" Peebee squealed. I shook my head before warping to the console on the other side of the room. _Great… a puzzle._

* * *

"Provisional repairs are complete, Pathfinder," SAM echoed.

"Cross your fingers," I grinned before interfacing with the console.

A flash and data was pulled up before my eyes. The whole room thrummed with power. My grin widened.

"Translating… 'Flight control systems online. Welcome, Administrator'." _Flight? Wait, is the room getting brighter?_

"I don't like this. We should get out."

"Restoring the systems appears to have reactivated something else nearby," SAM informed. _Shit._

"I can see that SAM and it's not good," I replied eyes widening.

Energy surged through some remnant technology and I saw them begin to float. _Air crafts?_

"Look at it. It's like one of the derelicts we've seen only… no longer derelict!" Peebee said, astonished.

"Translating… 'Exploration vessels on standby'. We have seen remnant ships, but none in working condition. It says it cannot receive commands from the Meridian Engine."

An orange orb with remnant coding appeared above the console.

"Meridian Engine? SAM do you know what-" I was cut off by the sight of an ascended walking into the room and pointing at the air crafts.

I frowned, "It's play time."

I turned around to see a destroyer ready to fire. I used my biotics to push Jaal and Peebee away from the rocket. A biotic shield appeared, but was immediately destroyed by the rocket and I was flung backwards.

"Ryder!" Peebee yelled from the right of me. All I could hear was a ringing in my ears. I got up from the ground and dove behind cover to the left.

"Ryder! I detected a surge of energy on the scans! The section you're in lit up like Mardi Gras!" Suvi yelled over the comm.

"What's a 'Mardi Gras'?" Jaal asked while firing a round into the big guy.

Suvi ignored his question, "What's going on? Are you all-"

"Can't talk right now!" I yelled as I switched profiles to my explorer.

"Jaal stay away from the big guy! I'll distract him while you take shots at its turrets and toss me your assault rifle too! Peebee, make sure I don't get surrounded by the little fish!"

They both yelled their agreement. Jaal tossed his assault rifle over to me and I smiled. I ran out of cover in front of the destroyer and began firing. I heard the ping of bullets ricocheting and piercing metal. The roar came after that and I dove into one of the side alcoves. A storm of bullets followed me. The pounding of its feet hitting the ground, closer, closer, now!

I warped back into a cover behind me as the monstrosity walked towards me. I inserted some fire bullets into the magazine and fired. I lobbed a grenade towards it causing the shields to go down. My hand glowed as I threw an inferno at the beast. The flames danced on its body for a moment before I detonated it with a lance of biotics.

The beast stood still and I inwardly groaned. I heard an explosion at my right and saw a nullifier explode. I shrugged and fired another round at the destroyer. Then the beast stumbled. I smiled and sent another inferno at it. Finally, I threw a lance of biotics at the beast.

It shook for a moment, convulsing. Light shined between the cracks and I dove for cover. I heard a deafening boom and saw metal fly above my head. I grinned and turned to the last of the remnant only to see them explode from a grenade. I nodded and ran back to the hallway.

"The controls should be up," I grunted while helping Grahl up from his position. He nodded in thanks. "Injured need to stay a good couple of feet behind while me and the team carve a path through the enemy."

They all nodded and we made our way out of the hall and to the controls.

* * *

I whipped the sweat off my brow and interfaced with the control console. _We found the controls!_ Blue lights danced in the air for a second, forming into the station we were now on. Then orange glyphs shone through.

"Translating… 'Connection lost. Meridian Engine not found'," SAM informed us. My heart sank. _All that work for nothing?_

"I did not struggle through all of that for nothing SAM. Give me something!" I yelled.

"I'm sorry, Pathfinder. Systems are intact, but they are searching for a component that doesn't appear to exist."

"What do you mean?" _My patience is wearing thin._

"One moment, Pathfinder. I have found something."

A voice, probably female, pierced the tense air. "Tavado aviraa. An Solaraan asa valtnv ganve. Rerah iras-"

"Translating," Sam interrupted. "'Final administrator log: The Oppositions weapon may cause widespread damage. All our weapons, our ships will not be able to protect us… protect my goal.'"

A large globe floated above us, the small station coming out of it.

"Fhsan davaar ferlnss. Rerah iras angaan tavetlnv. Hanela Jardaan," the female voice interjected again.

"'We need to disengage Meridian from command core which will remain here to draw fire. Meridian contains all the work of the Jardaan. Nothing else matters. I will send it far. We can return one day. Continue the process of renewal.'"

The globe floated past us before disappearing.

"End of log," SAM finished and the tiny station vanished.

Peebee walked forward. "So, this isn't Meridian. The Archon was wrong," she laughed slightly, "That's funny. I mean, it's horrible. But it's funny the asshole had no idea. We'll be able to bring it back, right?"

The ground shook beneath us.

"Kett! We have to get out of here!" Jaal yelled.

We ran to cover.

"This is just my luck," I grumbled. I looked over to the group of inured that had stayed behind me quietly.

"SAM! Find another exit! Preferably away from the kett!"

"There is no other exit, Pathfinder," SAM said. _Shit._ "However, the remnant city is not without defenses and this is its central command."

"Thank you for the idea, SAM."

I ran to the console, hoping that Jaal and Peebee would cover me. I held my hand over the tiles watching as the platform shone blue.

"Now, SAM!"

A flash of blue momentarily blinded me. I blinked a couple of times before pulling my hand away. The spire of blue disappeared. I looked behind me and saw a kett aimed straight at Peebee's head. I pushed her away and dove for cover again.

"The Archon wants that one. Destroy the rest," Commanded what I assumed to be one of the higher up officers. _Or another Archon fangirl._

"Watch out, it's an Archon fangirl and her cloaking goons!" I yelled before taking out my borrowed assault rifle.

"Not getting past me, cloak or no cloak!" Peebee cried before launching a VI swarm.

"Jaal, take out the fangirls shield and protect your team. I'll charge in and draw their attention!"

Jaal looked at me for a moment. I smiled slightly. He nodded, "Be careful. You're already exhausted."

I felt heat creep up my cheeks as I switched profiles to my vanguard. I rose from cover and charged to the cloaking fangirl. _She might be an Archon stalker once I think about it._

A crack filled the air as her shield was hit. I heard her growl before trying to take a shot at me. I rushed away from her. I turned to the kett trying to come up from behind and quickly shot them down. I turned back to the leader only to see the blue mist in the air.

"Leader is vanished! Keep an eye out!" I commanded.

"Fiend, fiend, fiend!" Peebee screamed. _There goes my hearing._

I turned and saw the monster running straight at me. My eyes widened. I pushed myself up off the ground and over the charging beast. It roared at me as I soared above it. I levitated for a moment, firing a couple of rounds into the monster. I felt my biotics give and slammed my fist into the ground, sending a shockwave that caused the fiend to stumble. Out of the corer of my eye I saw the leader reappear closer to my group than I'd like.

"Peebee! I can't handle both at the same time!" I yelled over the cacophony of gun fire.

I saw a swarm of orange surge through the air and attack the stalker.

"Thank you!"

I shot another round into the fiend's belly. It roared in anger at me and I warped away from it for a moment before charging back into it. It let loose another roar before collapsing and turning to black goo.

I cringed at the smell. _Disgusting._ I turned back to see the stalker trying to get the jump on Peebee. Quickly, a bolt of biotics was sent her way. _Bullseye._ I smiled as Peebee let loose a round of her bullets into the stalkers chest and the being fell.

"Ground team? Is everyone all right?" Kallo asked over the comm.

"All here. Jaal's team is injured though."

"We saw everything from orbit. It was incredible. The entire city lit up… the scans went wild!" Suvi informed us.

"And Ryder," Kallo added, "the kett are retreating. Whatever you did-it worked."

I laughed, "Yeah. They got their asses handed to them."

"Given your command over the Remnant's defenses, Pathfinder, I predict the kett will not attempt to recapture the city," SAM spoke.

"Any progress on Meridian? Have you got it working yet?" Kallo asked, voice full of optimism. _Here it comes._

"This is not Meridian. Er, not all of Meridian. Hard to explain really. We'll brief you later."

I turned off my comm and turned back towards the console.

"Meridian's gone, but shouldn't this thing know where it went?" I asked.

"Contact with the scourge will have altered Meridian's original path. It would take countless years to determine its current location," SAM answered.

I frowned, "That's not it. The Jardaan must have had a plan with all this tech."

Peebee spoke up, "The plan seemed to be, 'Oh crap, let's get out of here!'"

"Then there's the scourge. If it's causing problems then that's where we look."

"Look at what, exactly?"

"You tell me."

Peebee sighed before coming to my side, "Yeah, we don't have Meridian yet, but we took this city back from the kett! That's big!"

"That just means we have to get to Meridian before they recover. The real Meridian," I began walking to our extraction point. "SAM, collect all the data you can. Radio the _Tempest_ for extraction. This is going to take work, and it's going to take all of us."

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **Thank you for reading, favoriting, and following my story. It's sad realizing that I have a few chapters left to this story... (but it means I can post another one sooner or later!).**

 **Reviews:**

 **UmiNight Angel Neko: I won't reveal anything... but if you use what I said in my actual note and deduce it down... you may or may not know. ;)**

 **-MeanE**


	22. Please, Stay With Me

We had dropped off the injured angaran team at Aya. I gave each of them my thanks and some candy I had managed to find. Each giving a smile or handshake in appreciation. Except for Friela. _Still a bitch after I saved her life._

I had given my team three hours of off time to say their goodbyes and get supplies. _You mean you gave Peebee and Grahl some time to say goodbye. Shut up me._

I hadn't seen Jaal at all. Not even when Friela was carted away in an angaran stretchers. _Is he ashamed of his team's defeat without his leadership?_ I walked back into the _Tempest_. The whole ship was empty.

I had walked into Jaal's room out of habit. I felt like slamming my head into a wall with all my biotic ability. _Too late now!_

"Hello, Ryder. Have you come to see if I'm finally broken?" Jaal asked with his back turned. _Shit, he still thinks I would get revenge for him leaving me? Yeah, I'm still a bit pissed at that, but I'm not that crazy!_ "To see what discovering that my people were 'invented' has done to me?" He turned slowly to face me.

"No, I don't want to see that. I don't want to see someone fly off the handle."

"Nope. Not upset."

I looked him up and down, his lips set into a straight line. "I can tell, but it's still weird. Usually the you are just so… child-like in your emotions. Letting them free without knowing what it could give away."

"True. Angara are usually very free with our feelings."

I frowned. "I'm not talking about Friela, or Grahl, or Kalaar, or any angara. I'm talking about you! I'm talking about-" I cut myself before I could say anything more. _He's with Friela._ A silence entered the room.

"I'm… numb. I'm in awe," Jaal finally spoke. "There's a peace in knowing that, though the universe is beyond your understanding, it doesn't need your understanding to function. That you may even have a hidden destiny."

"I've already told you what I've thought of this. Your past is not who you are or will be. It doesn't control your destiny."

"I agree. We don't owe anything to the Jardaan. Our destiny is our own. I'm not broken, Sara. I'm excited," Jaal's eyes lit up. I felt my breath catch for a moment. "The angara were created for a purpose. We were given vaults and golden worlds-all these advanced tools. And there is nothing the kett can do about it. The future holds more for the angara than a never-ending war on the kett. Much more."

I felt myself smile at his revelation, "Thank you for being so open with me Jaal. I really love you doing that."

 _Abandon ship! Abandon ship! She said the 'L' Word!_

A pause. I looked down at the ground, opening my mouth to apologize, but nothing came out. "You make me feel safe."

The world fell around me. _What does this mean? Is our relationship okay? Can we go back to the way we were? No. No, we can't._

"It doesn't matter if we were created by a god, reborn from our ancestors, or exist as the dream of an AI superpower. This discovery changes nothing-except ourselves. And that's…"

"Everything," I finished automatically before leaving the room.

 _Oh, no. What have I done?_

* * *

"Approximating Remnant ship dynamics, SAM?" Kallo said, eyes glued onto the technology in front of him.

"Building predictive model."

"Between the remnant city, Meridian, and however the scourge fits in… pardon my Martian, but it's all weird as shit," Suvi added. _Good one Suvi._

"Did I get what we needed?" I asked simply.

Suvi chuckled lightly. "You got us something, all right. The key to it all. In here."

"The mother of all navigational aids," Kallo supplied.

"Take that back to the remnant city, find an override, and their ships will fly the same vector as Meridian," Suvi said, gently handing me a green glowing device.

"With corrections to the scourge, you'll have its exact location," SAM added.

"Then let's go SAM."

* * *

"Everything looks right, Pathfinder. Find the override, apply the hardware, and the Remnant will fly the same vector as Meridian," Suvi told me as I walked down the ramp.

Jaal walked ahead of me only to turn, "And all our work together will pay off. Ready?"

"Anytime," I said with a toothy smile.

"This is what we've been fighting for. Let's go already," Peebee interjected.

I let out a breath, " _Tempest_ we're going in."

* * *

"Something's off."

The room was lit with white fluorescent lights. A door shining like a beacon at the end of the hallway. The whole station was quiet.

"Orbital scans identified a separate energy grid within the tower," SAM spoke.

"Meaning?" Peebee asked.

"Defenses might not be on our side," I said simply before running through the door.

Near the end of the corridor was six remnants. I charged into one and watched as another was torn apart by Peebee's VI swarm. I fired a succession of shotgun bullets into the assembler in front of me. A red laser caught my eye and I turned to fire on that bot only for it to be taken care of for me.

"Remnant and they don't look friendly!" Peebee exclaimed.

"Understatement!" Jaal yelled back. I laughed brightly at his comment before plowing down a nullifier.

Together we took out the last two robots and entered the next room.

"One last remnant door," I smirked while walking down the hall to the controls.

"Controls are ahead. Projections suggest multiple launch bays, and possible links to Meridian deployment," SAM supplied.

"I cannot wait to see what this thing does!" Peebee said.

I went to the console, stomach fluttering and face beginning to cramp up from how much I smiled. _Nearly there. I know I shouldn't keep my hopes up, but I can't help it._ I tapped on my omni-tool.

"SAM, everything ready?" I asked.

"All relevant data is queued for uplink."

"Right. Let's… find a path," I said, looking towards Jaal and Peebee.

I put my hand on the console. _Don't fuck this up, Sara._ A cobweb of blue and orange lifted into the air.

"Remnant ships have lifted off. They're following the override vector."

I watched as small remnant vehicles split apart the cobweb to fly towards... something.

"They're getting through to… something."

"Meridian, Pathfinder," SAM supplied.

"A Remnant planet? Constructed?" Jaal asked

Peebee was in a stunned silence for a moment, "These readings are… wow. It's hollow? Like your Dyson spheres, but moon sized."

SAM interjected again, "A self-contained seed world. It is the heart of the vault network, and when reactivated, every connected planet will be affected. It's a means to make Heleus a home, Pathfinder."

"This is what everyone has hoped for, has worked for ever since we left our own stars," I smiled in pride.

"Congratulations, Pathfinder," A dark voice echoed in my head. My smile disappeared. My eyes became wide. _Shit._

"A great day for us all," An image flashed in my mind of the Archon. The world began to sway suddenly. I placed a shaking hand to my head. Then splitting pain. A sledge hammer being smashed into my head. A ringing of two hundred guns firing at once. My blood felt like acid. My heart kept skipping beats. I fell to my knees, legs too weak to hold me up.

"SAM? _Tempest_ , what's going on?" I screamed over the ringing. Tears blurred my vision as the world tilted again. I screamed in pain, but got onto my feet. _Get to the door, Sara._

"I believed you a fitting rival, but you are a false thing. A lie."

A shockwave of pain traveled through my body, but I started walking. Pushing myself to get out. Jaal looked to Peebee. A cacophony of feelings raging on his face from worry to shock to anger.

"Get back to the _Tempest!_ Go now!" I screamed at them. _They need to go before I end up being dead weight!_ "You need to leave me! Please, save yourselves!"

"Once I saw what made you special-your connection-I knew how and when to take it from you."

Another bolt of pain and I was gasping for air. My feet dragged on the floor, but I kept moving closer to the door. Peebee and Jaal stayed by my side, each trying to talk to me, but I couldn't hear them over the ringing. I took my head in my hands, fingers convulsing from the complete pain.

I let out another scream as hot, white fire raced through my body. _Stop! Please! No! I worked too hard for it to end like this!_

"I let you find Meridian. And now I'll use your SAM to weaponize it."

My vision was turning black and white, the edges stained with scarlet. I felt a hand trying to stop me, but I stumbled away from it.

"All Heleus will be exalted or, one by one, your worlds will die-starting with Eos."

Another flash of pain and white. I felt my breath catch as my heart stopped for a moment. My legs were lead beneath me.

"All I need to start is an implant like yours. And thanks to your memories, I know who else has one."

"Don't touch him! Don't!" I screamed. "Don't touch my brother!"

"Another reason to take the Hyperion."

The door shut in front of me and I fell, writhing in pain. Another flash, another gasp, another stumble of my heart. I heard quick steps and I was soon swept into the warm arms I had grown familiar with. I stared into his blue eyes, pools that tried to take me in. _How I missed this touch, but I can't miss it. He has Friela._

 _She doesn't matter when you're about to die. When you're in his arms and she's not._

I raised a hand to his check, a pained smile gracing my lips. Jaal's own hand covered my own, tears streaking down his cheeks. _Don't cry for me. I don't deserve it. Not after-_

I let out a silenced scream as my body convulsed yet again. After the convulsions, my body lay still in his arms for a moment. A valuable moment. _You can't. You can't. I can't leave yet. I don't want to. Please. Another chance. I'll be better, just give me another chance. I just want to tell him. I don't care if he has her as long as I get this._

"Please, stay with me, Sara," Jaal begged. Tears flowed freely down his cheeks just like they had at the kett base on Voeld. His face contorted in pain and sorrow.

I used the last of my strength to pull the larger man down towards me. We stopped a few centimeters away from each other's face. _Please, accept what little I have left._ He lowered slightly so that our lips met. I couldn't feel it. I felt a new batch of tears streak down my face in sorrow. _I couldn't feel it._ When we parted, all I could see were those blue pools echoing a deep pain. _Don't take me. Please, please_ _don't take me. Not yet. I need to tell him. I need to tell him one last thing._

My throat clogged, but I managed to choke out, "Jaal, I-"

Black.

"Fall to darkness, Pathfinder. You were almost worthy."

 _Please... no._

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **I tried really hard for this chapter. I really did (redid it a couple of times) But tear jerkers are hard... Especially when it's hard for me to cry over things so I don't know if it's teary enough. Just leave a review if at least one of you cried I'll be happy. Thanks for your lovely reviews, favouring this story, and/or just reading it at all. :)**

 **-MeanE**


	23. Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Darkness, so complete and utter it frightened me. _I don't want to die._ I thought I had seen darkness, but nothing was like this… oblivion I was witnessing.

"Open you, fool thing!"

 _A voice? It was guttural. Deep. Full of pain and desperation._ The darkness quaked.

" _Tempest!_ The Pathfinder is down! Come in!"

 _Another? Feminine. Panicked. So close to screaming._ I saw a rip in the darkness. _Freedom? No. I couldn't be._

I jerked awake from my slumber. Every limb, bone and thought ached. I let out a muted groan as I stood on weak legs. I stumbled over to the console, using the cold steel as a crutch to hold me up. A flash of pain in my head and I let out a loud groan.

"Shit, that hurts."

My two companions turned towards me, in surprise. Jaal had a hand on his holstered gun. Once they saw me they sprinted over.

"But you were dead!" Jaal cried.

"I was. The Hyperion's dark. SAM with it. We need to get back," I grunted out. I lifted my head slightly only to feel it lower back down because of the weight.

Peebee lowered her head to look me in the eye, "But how? The door is Remnant. You need SAM to open it."

I gave her a determined look. "We need to get back."

I stood straight for a moment, placed my hand above the console and began interfacing. The tiles caved in. Pain boomed in my chest and I hissed in pain, now keeled over the console.

"Sara, you're in so much pain," Peebee commented with sad eyes.

"We need to get back!" my voice cracked slightly.

I pushed myself up and tried again with the same result. The only difference is the door opened a bit.

"The door… opened," I gasped out.

Jaal was at my side, a hand grasping my shoulder. "Your vitals are crazy, are you sure you want to continue?"

I looked him in the eye, "If this… means your guys' survival… over mine… I would do anything."

I straightened again and interfaced completely with the console. The door jerked open. I fell onto weak knees.

"You look hurt are you sure you can go on?" Jaal asked again.

"To the _Tempest_. We have to move!"

I pushed myself forward, taking off at a sprint to the gravity well.

"Try it now," a smooth voice spoke over comm. _Gil?_

"Pathfinder! Come on," Kallo shouted in frustration.

"We're here _Tempest,_ " I weakly stated.

"I got her! I got-hey!"

"Pathfinder," Suvi interjected, "Kett took down the comms and hijacked the Hyperion!"

"I know. The Archon's been planning since the flagship. He used me," I grit out.

"Have Lexi ready. Ryder's hurt and… there's some weirdness," Peebee added.

Suvi cursed.

I reached the gravity well and activated it with some effort.

"We're getting reports from… everywhere. All remaining kett ships are on the move," Kallo informed us while we went down the well.

"It's all the Archon. If he takes Meridian, he'll destroy worlds. Starting with Eos. He thinks he won," I finished.

"Pathfinder? It kind of feels like he has," Suvi added hopelessly.

We were at the bottom and I ran to the exit despite my body's cries of protest. A brightness greeted us along with the rest of our crew. I walked forward a couple of steps before tripping on some invisible rock. I hit the ground hard.

I cried out a little in pain at the contact and kept on wincing when Jaal pulled me off the ground. He steadied me with an arm around the waist. Then my worst nightmare came running at us. Lexi.

"Ryder! There you are! You… need to stop doing this," She commanded. Her omni-tool flashed onto her wrist and then she was checking any and all body parts I had.

"Nice to see you too. Any news?" I asked.

This time Kallo answered, "Still headed to Meridian with a small flotilla. You got the last signal before Archon locked it down."

I moved out of Jaal's arms towards the ground team. Liam started walking towards the ship, "We're not letting that stand. Be ready to move."

Cora stopped him with a raised hand, "Wait. We need a plan."

"Stop ship, kill jerk," Peebee supplied.

"With what?" Cora challenged.

"He has things we don't, but I can still do… something about this," I finished before walking to the stray console I found.

"He's got the Hyperion. That's how many thousand hostages?" Vetra asked, unconvinced as usual.

Drack walked forward, "How many worlds does he destroy if we don't move?"

"And how many do we save if we get ourselves killed?" Cora interjected.

"Well we have to do something right?" Peebee asked.

"I know, but the _Tempest_ is one ship and she isn't even armed!"

I interfaced with the console in front of me. A wave of nausea hit me, but I remained standing. A hot liquid leaked out of my nose.

I saw metal rising from below the platform. My eyes went wide as I saw how small the _Tempest_ was compared to it. _Does it have the same agility? Will it be good enough for what I'm beginning to plan?_

My thoughts were cut off by Peebee walking forward. "You… did an impossible thing," she said in awe.

"Can you keep that up?" Cora asked from my side, "Have them fight for us?"

I wiped away the liquid that continued to leak from my nose. _I can do it, but not forever._ Her eyes widened in concern.

"Kett are tough, but Remnant hit hard," Vetra said.

I turned back towards my team and walked forward towards them.

"The promise of that could inspire others to join in- across the cluster," Jaal added.

"We have a 'for real' shot at this!" Liam smirked.

Drack shifted, "Rally the troops for a last stand."

I scoffed. "It won't be our last stand. It won't be the last time. If I have anything to say then I will help take down Archon with the remnant helping us without needlessly throwing away the lives of our people and of the angaran people.

"We will fight with everything and everyone we have and we will win. I promise you all that much," I told them. "The Archon is getting cocky. Believes I'm dead and that the rest of the Initiative is his to destroy and control. This shows how much he doesn't know. He doesn't know us. Our determination. Our drive. He doesn't know how far we will go to protect what little we have."

I turned and partially limped into the _Tempest's_ hull with my team following.

* * *

I sat quietly in the cockpit. My legs dangled over the edge of the mapping platform, eyes locked onto the dark expanse in front of me. I flexed my fingers, watching purple energy dance between each one. The pain within me was numbed down to an ache.

I jumped slightly when I heard a throat being cleared behind me. I didn't turn. I didn't need to. _Why is he here?_

"Here you are," Jaal began, slowly trudging up to me. "Your speech rivaled anything I heard Evfra give. And speaking of him, he's sent a list of all the preparations the Resistance has made."

I nodded in acknowledgment. We lapsed into silence for a moment.

"You seem so confident and calm in spite of what's on the line," He paused again, thinking over his next words carefully. "My heart hurts for your burden."

I clenched my fists. My face flushed red in frustration. "Why?"

He remained silent. Waiting for me to say more.

"Why do you do this? You are with Friela! You told me! You confused me, turned my feelings upside-down on so many occasions. I'm excited, absolutely terrified, and pissed as hell! It's all jumbled in my head and you professing your feelings and taking them back only to give them back!" I was screaming. Tears began to well in my eyes at the frustration of it all, but I forced them back. I slammed my fist into the ground. _Can't he just let go of me? Can't I just let go of him? It should be so easy!_

I felt arms wrap around my waist, pulling me close. I tried fighting, squirming out of his arms, getting away. Jaal squeezed tighter, his grip turning to steel. I stopped fighting when the pain in my body began to arise again. My head slumped forward and eyes set on the ground.

"You are the light that we all follow," He whispered gently. "That I follow."

I shook. "I know. I know that so well. Just tell me. Please, just tell me why."

He took a deep, shaky breath. "I wanted you to forget about me. I wanted you to despise me. All to help you. If I wasn't there, you wouldn't have had trouble. You wouldn't be so sad or confused."

"You left to help me?" I asked feeling the rage begin to ebb into my voice again. "You didn't do anything, but break me. You were a fool! An idiot! If you hadn't left-"

"If I didn't leave you would have continued avoiding me. Moving away from my feelings."

I felt my stubbornness begin to get the better of me. I didn't want to relent, but if I did… everything would become clear. _You have to. You should. But you won't, will you?_

I stubbornly remained silent. Not moving. Breathing softly to not break the silence that permeated the room.

I felt a face slowly begin to nuzzle into the crook of my neck, hands loosening around my waist. I kept in the small gasp I was going to utter at the action. I didn't move.

My hands grasped his arms. _You want it._ I shuddered at the voice and moved away from him. Memories flashed back into my mind and I gently shook my head. _Why does it come back now? He's dead. He's dead. He can't hurt me._

"I'm not here to hurt you, Sara," Jaal whispered into my ear. "I won't hurt you anymore. I promise."

I turned to face him finally. Jaal gave me a hopeful smile and brushed away the tears that had somehow escaped my eyes. I bit my lip. _I'm going to give in. I can't hold it any longer._

"Don't leave me again, Jaal."

"I won't."

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **Yay! I hope your happy! I got it done (Er… the chapter. I still have a couple more chapters til the story is finished.)**

 **Reviews:**

 **A.S.A.P. Guest: I'm happy that you cried. Plus, I guess this is close enough to your wishes… I suppose. (By the goddess, these things take time!)**

 **Thank you, guys, for your reviews, favorites, follows, and reading my story! I hope you guys enjoy it to the very end!**

 **-MeanE**


	24. Brothers, Sisters, and Aliens

I felt a spike of pain race up my body as the _Mako_ landed on the uneven ground and foliage of Meridian. I grit my teeth and stared blankly at the glass in front of me. _Doesn't matter if it hurts as long as I get there faster._ I activated the thrusters and we ended up being catapulted into the air.

"Pathfinder, it's nav-dead. That's why we lost it! Looks like maneuvering thrusters only!" Suvi informed me.

I laughed, "He thinks we won't chase him still?"

"We'll protect the arc," a new voice interrupted.

I blinked and did a double take, "Kandros? Who's with you?"

"The invitation was open-unless you're refusing Kadara's help?"

I grinned widely, "Of course not Kelly."

I felt another shock go up my body as the _Mako_ landed on the ground rather roughly.

"We hold the kett, you secure Meridian," Evfra added in. _Aw, even Mr. Sour-puss is here!_

"Let's get the Archon then."

We only made it across some more rocky ground until another voice came over comm.

"He took them, dammit," I heard a voice growl over the comm.

"Dunn?" I asked. _She sounds more pissed off then afraid._

"SAM isn't talking, but his core-it's lit up like Christmas. Shit! I don't know what happened, but he has Scott," Dunn replied back in a hiss. "He's trying to take Meridian, for whatever it can do!

 _Shit, she is angry._

"Focus on flying! I'll find them!" I tried to reassure her.

Dunn's comm didn't cut off soon enough as I heard her scoff from the other end. _Probably didn't neeed to be told what to do cause it's her job._

I felt inertia weigh me back as another burst of the thrusters pushes us forward again. I felt my vision narrow to what was in front of us rather than the beauty of the architecture around us and how the foliage seemed to gracefully wrap around it. We entered a flattened area with two walls of rocks keeping us on track.

"Shit! Hard starboard! All power!" Dunn commanded over comm.

"Captain? Captain, what is it?" Cora asked from beside me.

I sent a glare Cora's way as she let the _Mako_ slow down. "Don't you fucking dare slow down, Cora. We are on a time limit."

She nodded firmly and I felt the thrusters go off again. I heard the click of Vetra's mandibles as she snapped them towards her face. _Why did you not bring him? Payback. It's to "Protect him", I suppose._ We soared through the again and a large black blob in the clear vista caught my attention.

"That's not the Hyperion," I growled with fists clenched.

My comm hissed as Kandros came in again, "Kett are deploying to defend the Archon! Get in close!"

I saw Cora's eyes narrow from the edge of my peripheral vision. "Dangerous tactic, Kandros."

"He's right," Kallo pointed out. "Mix with their ground troops, the big ship can't fire on you."

I nodded. "As long as-"

"Debris incoming!" Kallo cut me off.

"Watch your heads," Sloane added with a chuckle. _This must feel like the old days for her. Hell, it must be the older days for Drack!_

A smoldering mass came crashing down to the side of us and Cora barely managed to drift out of its way. I smiled as the adrenaline started its course through my veins.

"Structures ahead, Pathfinder," Suvi said. "And major energy signals. I'm not SAM, but that's got to be some kind of control."

I heard a crack as Cora slammed her foot on the pedal and saw some purple lights in the relative darkness. She sailed us over another ledge only for the _Mako_ to be hit by some grenade that shorted out all electricity.

"We're on foot now," I said with grit teeth as I climbed out of the _Mako's_ wreckage.

"The Archon will not take Meridian," Cora said with some determination. "But he must be inside already!"

I took out my shot gun and launched myself towards a pair of Kett, effectively killing one with my biotics while the other fell to my gun.

"Then we have to hurry before he turns my little brother and Meridian into a weapon!" I yelled as I took down three more kett.

I saw ships lowering from the sky and growled, "Kett ships inbound!"

"Your own reinforcements on site, Pathfinder!" Kandros shouted.

"The Resistance is with you," Evfra added.

"Kadara's her too! Remember that!" Kelly said, not wanting to be left out.

I grinned as teams of salarians, turians, humans, angara, and glowing asari crashed into the battle field to unleash their own chaos.

"Let's go!" I yelled as I slammed into a kett with a mini-gun.

* * *

"We're anchored here, Pathfinder. You better not be dead," Kelly spoke over comm.

"We are secure for the moment," Hayjer added.

"Secure like we're staying. Next stop, the Archon," I growled before stepping into the gravity well.

I felt myself begin the sharp descent downwards. My body relaxed when the pain stopped as I was pulled downwards. The weightlessness easing the tension in my limbs. I let a sigh escape my lips.

"How deep can we go before we're back in space?" Vetra asked from beside me.

"I don't know. Guess we'll find out soon enough," I shrugged slightly despite her not being able to see me.

I sucked in a breath ass I saw a giant tower sort construct illuminated in blue and orange. Dark spires surrounded it and I saw more shadows on the tower itself. Waves of blue energy framing them.

"Do it! Secure the adaptation matrix!" the Archon commanded.

I raised an eyebrow.

Cora seemed just as surprised, "The Archon? Does he know he's broadcasting?"

It connected.

I chuckled quietly, "It's Scott. He's doing it without the bastard knowing!"

I pushed myself forward once we had landed on the ground. I sprinted past several remnant who seemed to be inactive.

"Why aren't they attacking?" I asked. _How much control does Scott have? Sure, he can broadcast the Archon, but does he have enough power to-wait. I could do it. So can he, especially with SAM._ _However, the Archon is still there._

I saw another remnant up ahead facing towards a set of doors. _No, the Archon wouldn't be doing this. He's an idiot._

"Oh, I love you baby brother," I whispered while running at the area they were pointing at.

"It might be the Archon," Vetra said, trying her best to keep up with me.

"Who else could it be, Vetra?" I asked over my shoulder. "There's more than us and the Archon here."

I heard a grunt in reply.

 _She understood._

I turned a corner towards a bright blue light. It seemed to be more of a beacon as it shone through the arch at the end of the corridor I now raced through. _Ready or not, here I come, bitch._

I saw the door close and quickly switched directions to the doorway to the right.

"Prepare to repeat the cortical stimulus," Archon voiced again.

"Get the hell out of my head, bastard!" Scott yelled in retaliation.

"You are irrelevant. I will use your connection," Archon replied monotonously.

I heard my brother cut off a cry he was about to let loose. I felt my own biotics flare up at his pain and only pushed myself even more. Sprinting down the hallway as quickly as I can despite the pain coursing through my body.

The door opened to reveal another gravity well and I ran towards it.

"Nope. Not liking this," Vetra gasped out.

"Doesn't matter. I'm saving my brother and our new home," I grit out between my teeth.

"No backing down now," Cora shrugged.

I activated the well and began to float forwards, through the glowing hallways and dark spires, to the tower we saw earlier.

I remained silent as I worked out some sort of battle plan for whatever we found there.

Landing unsteadily on my feet, I made my way past the idle remnant. The long pathway seemed to stretch on as I felt myself beginning to lag slightly.

Cora touched my shoulder, "Ready, Pathfinder?"

I hadn't noticed her making her way towards me. "More than ready," I panted.

"Let's do it," Vetra said resolutely as we finally saw the door in sight.

"The connection is ready," The Archon voiced. _Shit!_ "I can feel it."

"Not for long now buddy," I grit out.

"There… Meridian, the network… so close!" He shouted.

"We need to move! Come on!" Vetra urged again.

I mustered some more energy as I finally got to the door. Stepping out into a long path, my eyes saw kett jogging ahead of me. My attention was drawn back towards the figures situated upon a hill made of remnant triangles. The blue light from above contradicted the red fog below, sending shivers up my spine.

"It arrives! This attempt to rival me is no longer amusing, Pathfinder!" The Archon glowered.

"Hey, Sis. Get my clues?" My brother asked weakly.

"Clear path, Scott," I gave him a tiny smile.

"Tried to keep him distract it wa-"

"So determined, but so pointless. Your connection serves me," The Archon cut him off.

"Really, you bastard? You interrupt our bonding and no-"

Scott was cut off as a wave of pain seemed to come over him.

"I know how it works. The mind is trained to think like the Remnant creators. In this case, painfully," The Archon added while tubes were attached to his back by those minions of his. "But I'm content to let him bear that burden. Whatever gives me Meridian. I will transcend what you pretend to be."

"You take my home. You hurt my brother. You try to kill me. You've lost your chances to beat me and the people of Heleus and now there's no time left. I've matched your every step. You have failed."

"You learn by accident. I am the genetic inheritor of a thousand species!" The Archon floated up as blue power encased him. _Great now the retard is a light show for all._ "No more mercy. Kill them all!"

A fleet of kett came from behind remnant doors and I felt myself fly into action. I was racing across the bridges, jumping across gaps, and slamming into remnant wherever I could. I grit my teeth as a new wave of pain entered my body.

"I can't keep this up, Sis!" Scott yelled in warning with a crack at the end of his voice.

I jumped across another chasm and fell to the ground with my hammer halfway through the head of a floating kett goon. My vision began blurring as the pain came back in another fierce wave, burning up my whole body from the inside out like acid. My spasm of pain was interrupted by voices.

"I can see-"

"Oh…no, no, no! He's-Shit! He has access!" I yelled.

"-the network. They were architects of life. You command nothing!" the Archon said in awe.

"I made the cluster livable for thousands!" I sister screamed back, my own biotics sparking with fury.

"No," The Archon answered. "You have led your people to their deaths."

My eyes widen before everything was whited out by a flash. I blinked several times to regain my bearing only to be met with a giant mechanical remnant squid.

"Shit! Get down!"

A blast was fired at us and we were all sent tumbling into the floor below. I hissed in pain and glared up at the Archon.

"Sis, the Archon's… pulling too much power!" Scott warned.

"Tell me!" I yelled back.

"It's… all going straight through him… shut fown the inter faces!" Scott gasped. "Take Meridian out from under-Ah!"

I cringed and felt an onslaught of emotions come over me. I dived towards cover as another beam was directed towards me. "I need your help!"

"Shit! How?" He cried again.

"Call out where to interface! Give me targets!" I yelled again before diving out of cover to deliver some shots to the squid menace.

"Where to Scott?" I asked, locking away my emotions for now.

"Nav… Get there now…! I'll expose it!" Scott said back in a pant.

I nodded and sprinted towards the marked location. My sides felt like daggers were being run through them, but I ignored the pain. I dodged the remnant who took shots at me and let my team mates take them on instead. I took cover by the console and began taking shots with my rifle at them.

 _Gotta hurry!_

I heard the machines dropping like flies only for more of the menaces to come out. I saw a bar in my vision showing me the process of hacking a smirked. _Just got to take out these fools and we'll all be good._

 _Right?_

"The Archon's… fighting me!" Scott grit out.

"Just keep up the fight, Scott!" I yelled back reassuringly.

"Assisting," said a monotonous voice.

"SAM?"

"I'm still restricted, but the more Remnant you destroy, the more fractured the Archon's attention," SAM informed me.

"Stay grounded, kill more. Got it," I nodded.

"Soft spot?" Scott asked.

"The armored head," SAM replied.

"Let's open it up!" Scott replied with some more vigor.

I quickly began firing shots into the squid's head. I felt sweat drip down my face, but ignored it. I saw a red beam directed towards me, but the boom of a sniper rifle took it out.

"We couldn't sit this out, Sara! There's too much at stake," Jaal intercepted.

"Just don't get killed!" I commanded.

"Of course!" Jaal replied.

I dodge the squids fire and continued my assault only to be interrupted by Scott screaming. I blanked for a moment only for reality to take hold again as my shields were downed. I ducked behind the console and saw the flash of it being ready. I placed my hand atop it and interfaced.

"Next!" I yelled.

"Other side!" Scott screamed back.

I ran forward until I saw the point at the other end of a gap. I quickly turned to another interface and created a make shift bridge with what I was given, quickly making my way across the chasm to the next interface.

"Drack, Vetra, and I will charge across everyone take up the rear and make sure nothing gets through!" I commanded before launching myself at remnant after remnant. Drack roared as he crashed into another foe and I heard Vetra laugh at his antics.

I took cover and begin firing some more rounds into the mouth of the squid monstrosity. It's gaping maw closed and it roared in fury.

"I've got it I-Rrgh!" Scott growled in pain again.

"Scott!" I screamed as panic started to spread through me.

"You need to hurry, Sara," SAM said. "We're all straining."

I felt another bead of sweat roll down my chin. "Yes."

I jumped upward as I launched myself from pillar to pillar to the end of the path. I sprinted up the jagged platform to the interface.

"I'm here! Now Scott!"

"I'm trying. I-ah!" He gasped in pain.

"Just a little more! We have to kick his ass, Scott!"

"I'm not done yet!" Scott gasped. "Hold there!"

I nodded and launched myself to a nearby Remnant, the whole team had already caught up to each other by now. I saw bullets flying to and fro. I felt pain coming from my whole body, not knowing if it was from nearly being killed or the wounds I probably gained, but ignored.

I pushed myself to another Remnant and fired a round into its beady red eye. A ray of red surrounded me and I dived away. I stared into the red energy of the squid and sent a lance of energy its way along with a barrage of bullets.

"Jaal and Vetra, send all you have at Mr. Squid over there!" I yelled.

They nodded. I looked over to see Peebee mindlessly standing in the middle of a red ray as she fought off the other remnants.

"Shit! Peebee!" I yelled before using a charge on her to send her flying away. Electricity was sent up my arms as an orb of blue surrounded me. I screamed as I collapsed to the ground in spasms. _Need to get out!_ I crawled forward out of the blue dome of electricity surrounding me. I felt my arm being taken by something and was dragged to cover. Big beady eyes stared at me from a reptilian face. I nodded my thanks at Drack and stayed behind the cover to regain my bearings.

I saw the squid flinch away from the shots being sent its way. It's mouth closed and I took my opportunity to interface again. I finished and dove behind cover, clamping my mouth from the scream of pain ready to escape me.

"It's down! How do we bring it all home?" I asked.

"One more… Just… one…?" Scott gasped out.

"Scott? Scott!" I screamed. Panic engulfed me as I sprinted past all the remnant.

"We are out of time, Sara. Hurry," SAM said with not an ounce of emotion despite the pressing situation.

I jumped over the pillars that I had passed earlier and landed roughly on the ground. I crawled my way up to a run as I sprinted to the interface. I planted my hand on the machinery and saw the blue electricity coursing around my fingers. The Archon was overhead, ripping the tube from his back.

I screamed as I pushed forward another surge of energy. A mechanical roar echoed behind me, then a crash. I fell onto my knees exhausted.

"Sara, Meridian is… online," SAM said in my ear.

I nodded as the tower in front of me began glowing a bright blue.

I felt a hand touch my back. I turned to see the clear blue eyes that I had memorized. I gave him a small grin. He lent me his hand and I took it. My body was quickly swung forward onto its feet. I gave him a nod of appreciation before looking back to my brother who still sat at the top of the now glowing tower.

* * *

Walking while my brother using me as a crutch was painful to say the least. We finally made it outside and Lexi took him from my care, gently setting him on a rock not too far away to check up on him. I saw people of all the races gathering around me. _Shit… another speech?_

"SAM is broadcasting the victory. Across the cluster. Aya is celebrating too. You did it," He whispered into my ear.

 _Yep, another speech._

I grinned, "Oh, no. I'm no good at this alone. We did it."

I turned to face him.

"You're amazing," he said quietly, a small smile on his face.

"Of course, I am," I grinned giving him a small jab to the chest. He caught my hand and his eyes searched my face for a moment. I stared back for a split second before his hand became tangled in my hair and pushed us together again. A whistle came from behind me along with a "Get a room!".

I grinned against his firm lips. He grabbed my legs as I hopped up to straddle his waist despite the pain. I pressed my forehead to his and give him a chaste kiss before laughing away the stress that had been within me for months.

I heard a voice scream from behind me, "My sister fucked an alien?"

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **Hahahahaha! I did it! After a huge hiatus (so, so sorry... I have already set up the stake to burn me at) I have completed it! I hope you guys liked it and the story in general... this is the last chapter (unless you guys want a weird 'Post-meridian just for fun' chapter). Thanks for the reviews and for pulling it through with me! Sorry for not getting in Jaal's well deserved slap, I just couldn't get it in. Hope no character is too out of character.**

 **3**

 **MeanE**


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